SC to look into plea against Nitish for concealing criminal case in affidavit

The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would look into a petition seeking cancellation of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's membership of the state Legislative Council for allegedly concealing a pending criminal case against him while filing his poll affidavit.

A bench of Justice Dipak Misra, Justice Amitava Roy and Justice A.M. Khanwilkar agreed to hear the plea filed by advocate M.L. Sharma, also seeking direction to the CBI to register an FIR against the JD-U leader in the case.

The petition said there was a criminal case against Nitish Kumar in which he was accused of killing a local Congress leader Sitaram Singh, and injuring four others ahead of a Lok Sabha by-election in Barh constituency in 1991.

Despite knowing about Kumar's criminal case, the Election Commission did not cancel his membership of the House and he still enjoys constitutional office till date, Sharma said.

The petition sought cancellation of the Bihar Chief Minister's membership as per the 2002 order of the Election Commission, which said it is mandatory for candidates to disclose criminal cases against them in their affidavits annexed to nomination papers.

--IANS

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