Shillong, March 23: The Meghalaya High Court on Thursday took up petition seeking to disqualify the recently elected Independent MLA from Baghmara Kartush R Marak.
The petitioner has alleged that Marak in his affidavit submitted at the time of filing nomination papers had declared that we was Class I government contractor having subsisting income in such capacity.
The court has issued a notice to the Election Commission, the Returning Officer and Marak to submit their response.
According to petitioner’s lawyer Sujit Dey, one John Marak from Baghmara has filed the petition which is registered as election petition one of 2023 challenging the election of the MLA on the ground that he is having a subsisting contract on the day of filing the nominations.
According to him a person who is elected in the State Assembly or district council can be disqualified under Article 191 of the constitution of India and their application is under the Clause e of 191 (1).
“Under the Representation of People Act we have filed an application for declaring the election of Kartush Marak as null and void,” he said.
“In his form in the election website serial number nine, he has declared first class government contractor as his source of income at present. This contract which he received from the government is subsisting meaning that the contract is on and is a valid contract. The para 9A of the Act specifically says that a person will be disqualified if he holds a subsisting contract,” he added.
The matter was listed today and the Court has issued a notice to all the respondents.
The, advocate is of the opinion that the returning officer should have rejected the nominations of Marak who has since aligned himself with ruling MDA 2.0.