The Orissa High Court on Monday quashed an election petition filed by senior BJD leader and former Assembly Speaker Kishore Mohanty, who had challenged the election of Congress leader Naba Das from the Jharsuguda Assembly constituency.
Mohanty had lost to Das by a margin of 1,563 votes in a nine-cornered contest during the April 2014 elections. Notably, as many as 1,463 voters of the constituency had pushed the NOTA button in the EVM here.
Alleging that the election process, including counting of the votes, was not done in a proper manner, Mohanty had approached the High Court seeking to declare the election of Das null and void.
Justice SK Mishra quashed the petition of Mohanty, observing that no trial was necessary in this case as the petition lacked any such evidence as was alleged.