Odisha HC seeks reply from 3 MLAs over vote counting dispute

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, July 15:

The Odisha High Court today served notices on three MLAs directing them to furnish a reply within three weeks with regard to the results of the recently held Assembly elections in the state.

The directive of the court came while hearing the writ petitions filed by two BJD leaders—former minister Prasanna Kumar Acharya and Kishore Mohanty—and Congress leader Dusmanta Nayak.

Alleging irregularities in the Assembly elections, these three leaders, who had lost the elections by a slender margin of votes, had urged the High Court for recounting of votes.

While Achyara had lost the polls to his rival Subala Sahu of Congress from Bijepur constituency, Mohanty had lost to Congress leader Naba Das from Jharsuguda constituency. Dushmant Nayak had lost to Anam Nayak of the BJD from Bhawanipatna constituency.

A single bench of the High Court Justice Debabrata Das asked the MLAs of these three constituencies to file counter affidavit in three weeks.

The next round of the hearing in the case would come up in the first week of August.