ITANAGAR, May 15 (PTI): BJP leaders from Arunachal Pradesh welcomed the interim relief granted by the Supreme Court to party MLA Dasanglu Pul on her election from Hayuliang seat in Anjaw district in 2019.
Her election from the assembly constituency was declared void by the Itanagar bench of the Gauhati High Court on April 25 this year.
Related Posts:
A Supreme Court bench, comprising Justice A S Bopanna and Justice Sanjay Karol, granted interim relief to Pul on May 12 while hearing a special leave petition filed by her. It listed the next hearing on September 6.
Tapir Gao, Lok Sabha MP from Arunachal East parliamentary constituency said that in a democratic country, everyone has the right to complain and seek justice from the court.
“We have full faith in the judiciary. We believe she will get her due justice,” the BJP MP said.
BJP state unit president Biyuram Wahge also expressed optimism that the MLA will get justice in the next hearing.
“Our party has always reposed faith in the judiciary. We welcome the court’s decision,” he said.
BJP state vice president Tarh Tarak also hailed the court’s decision.
The Itanagar bench of the Gauhati High Court had on April 25 declared Pul’s election from Hayuliang as void under the Representation of People Act.
Forty-five-year-old Pul, the third wife of former chief minister Kalikho Pul, was re-elected from the seat in 2019 after winning it for the first time in a by-election in 2016 following her husband’s death.
Congress candidate Lupalam Kri, who lost to Pul in 2019, had filed a petition in the court, challenging her election.
Hearing the petition, the bench of Justice Nani Tagia observed, “The respondent had not presented her nomination paper in accordance with Section 33 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and, as such, the nomination paper of the respondent is liable to be rejected under Section 36 (2) (a) of the Act.”
“Hence, the improper acceptance of the nomination of the respondent by the returning officer, therefore, has materially affected the result of the election of the respondent,” the court said.
Kri, in his petition, had claimed that Pul’s candidature was “substantially defective” as she did not declare her husband’s four properties in Mumbai and two in Arunachal Pradesh in the affidavit filed by her.
He claimed that the returning officer had improperly accepted Pul’s candidature despite a written complaint against her.
The BJP MLA submitted to the court that in view of the legal heir certificate, Kalikho Pul’s first wife Dangwimsai Pul is the owner of his properties.
Due to this, she did not mention any of those properties in the election affidavit, she told the court.
