Deceased Congress leader lalatendu (lulu) Bidyadhar Mohapatra lalitendu Bidyadhar Mohapatra’s younger brother on Mondayfiled a ‘substitution’ petition in the Orissa High Court to continue the proceedings of the election petition that was filed by lulu challenging the election of Minister Sanjay Dasburma.
Dasburma was elected from the Brahmagiri constituency in Puri district in the 2014 elections defeating lulu Mohapatra by a slender margin of 1,341 votes. Mohapatra had filed the case urging the court to declare the election of the BJD leader void on the ground that the poll processes were completely vitiated.
According to the provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act, proceedings in the election petition shall remain operative in the event of the death of the petitioner if any other voter of the constituency offers to be a substitute petitioner. “lalitendu, who is a voter of the Brahmagiri constituency, has filed a substitution petition,” informed the original petitioner’s counsel Pitanmbar Acharya.