Relief for Odisha MLA Jogesh Singh as SC stays his disqualification by HC

Bhubaneswar: In a sigh of relief for Congress’ Sundargarh MLA Jogesh Kumar Singh, the Supreme Court today issued an interim stay on the Orissa High Court’s decision to declare his election null and void, informed Pitambar Acharya, the legislator’s counsel.

It may be recalled here that the Orissa High Court had on January 30 declared election of Jogesh Singh invalid over submitting fake caste certificate during the 2014 assembly polls.

The HC order came while hearing two separate petitions filed by BJP candidate Sahadev Xaxa, who lost to Singh in the 2014 elections, and a voter Ajay Patel. The two had alleged that Singh, despite not belonging to scheduled tribe (ST), had managed to obtain an ST certificate and contested the election from the reserved seat.

Worth mentioning, Sundargarh Assembly constituency is reserved for ST category candidates.

It was alleged that Singh had managed to get the false ST certificate showing his caste as ‘Bhuyan’ on the basis of record rights of a particular khatian which was submitted along with his nomination paper.

It was also alleged that he had concealed details of some information required to be furnished in the affidavit filed in form-26 along with his nomination paper.

He had moved the apex court challenging the decision of the High Court.