HC dismisses yet another poll petition

The Orissa High Court today dismissed an election petition filed by Aama Odisha Party president Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who had lost to BJD candidate Anubhav Patnaik by a slender margin of 601 votes from Khandapada in last year's Assembly election.
The AOP chief had challenged the election of the BJD candidate urging the High Court to annul the election result alleging that counting of votes in the segment was not taken up properly.
The petition of Soumya Ranjan was, however, opposed by Anubhav who submitted that the allegation did not make out any cause for action.
Senior advocate Bidyadhar Mishra arguing the case on behalf of Anubhav had also pleaded with the court that the petition was liable to be dismissed as no material fact had been placed before the court by the petitioner in support of his claim.

Adjudicating over the petition, Justice B K Nayak observed that the allegations made in the election petition were bereft of material evidence and do not make out any cause of action. "The petition is dismissed without entering into trial", the High Court order said.
With this, the High Court this month has dismissed two election petitions.
On March 18, Justice Biswanath Rath had also dismissed the election petition filed by Titlagarh Congress leader Surendra Singh Bhoi, who had challenged the election of BJD MLA Tukuni Sahu.