Narottam Mishra to challenge EC’s disqualification order

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra on Saturday said he will move the high court against the Election Commission order disqualifying him for three years for filing wrong accounts of election expenditure.

“I am going to move the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the Election Commission’s order,” Mishra told reporters here.

He was disqualified by the Election Commission for three years for filing wrong accounts of election expenditure during the 2008 assembly polls. His election from the Datia Assembly constituency also stands void.

Mishra who is Water Resources and Legislative Affairs minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government said that according to legal experts the disqualification order was “infructuous”.

To press his point, he said that the EC delivered its judgement based on the case relating to his win in 2008 MP assembly polls from Datia seat.

“After that I have won the people’s mandate in 2013 MP assembly polls,” he said.

“My advocate has told me that the case (his disqualification) was related to paid news. Neither the petitioner has provided a document to corroborate paid news charge against me, nor there is a mention of it in the Election Commission’s order,” he claimed.

Dismissing the Congress’ demand for his resignation, Mishra said that if people start putting in their papers according to the rival party’s wish, Madhya Pradesh will witness elections daily.

Rajendra Bharti of the Congress, who lost the 2008 MP assembly polls from Datia constituency to Mishra, a close aide of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, had filed a complaint against the minister with the EC under the Representation of the People Act, 1951 on April 4, 2009.