The Orissa High Court on Thursday (24 December) dismissed a petition challenging the election of Biju Janata Dal’s Pratyusha Rajeswari Singh from Kandhamal parliamentary constituency in the state.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Rudra Madhab Ray filed the petition questioning Pratyusha’s origin and nationality after his defeat in the Kandhamal by-election in October last year.
Challenging her election, Ray said she did not qualify to be a parliamentarian as she was a Nepal citizen and had not obtained Indian citizenship.
“The high court dismissed Ray’s petition on the ground that it was not maintainable. It allowed a miscellaneous plea filed by Pratyusha to seek quashing of the petition,” Rajeswari’s lawyer Upendra Samal said.
Rajeswari, widow of former Kandhamal MP Hemendra Singh, won the by-election by defeating Ray by 2,98,868 votes.
The by-election in the constituency was necessitated due to the death of Hemendra Singh, who won the seat in the Lok Sabha polls held in April 2014.
