Madhya Pradesh High Court: In an election petition filed by the BJP candidate, Dhruv Narayan Singh, against Arif Masood, Congress MLA from the Bhopal Central Constituency for deliberately omitted information about a loan obtained from a bank in his Nomination papers, a single-judge bench comprising of Vivek Agarwal, J., issued a notice to the respondent and sought a reply from Masood regarding the allegations of concealing information about a loan in the affidavit filed before the Election Commission.
The respondent, Arif Masood, contested in the assembly polls as a Congress candidate from the Bhopal Central Constituency. The petitioner, Dhruv Narayan Singh, a BJP candidate from the same constituency, filed an election petition alleging that the petitioner had concealed information about a loan in the affidavit submitted to the Election Commission prior to the polls. The petitioner asserted that the respondent deliberately omitted information about a loan obtained from a bank in his affidavit. The petitioner raised objections with the election officer regarding respondent’s affidavit, but his objections were dismissed.
The Court deemed it necessary to investigate the allegations of concealment and to ensure compliance with the legal requirements for candidates contesting elections and issued notice to the respondent on payment of process fee by registered A.D. post within seven days, returnable within three weeks. The Court fixed the next date of the hearing on 14-05-2024.
[Dhruv Narayan Singh v. Arif Masood, 2024 SCC OnLine MP 1958, order dated 08-04-2024]
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Shri Ajay Mishra, Senior Advocate with Shri Gourav Tiwari, Counsel for the Petitioner
