In a significant ruling, the Odisha High Court on Wednesday dismissed an election petition and imposed a cost of Rs 1 lakh on the petitioner for his deliberate conduct of not cooperating with the court and abusing the court’s time.
Congress leader and former MlA Surendra Singhbhoi had filed the petition challenging the election of Titilagarh BJD MlA Tukuni Sahu, ro whom he had lost in the last year’s Assembly election. Justice Biswanath Rath imposed the cost on the petitioner as he failed to appear before the court on the day to give evidence in support of his petition after seeking repeated adjournments.
The Congress leader had challenged the election of the BJD MlA claiming that the process of election and the counting of votes were not taken up properly in the constituency. However, when the petitioner failed to cooperate in the trial of the case, the court dismissed the petition and imposed the cost, observing that the petitioner was somehow or other busy in delaying the case and not permitting the court to proceed with the trial.