HC rejects petition challenging election of Ind MLA

The Allahabad High Court today dismissed a petition challenging the election of Independent MLA Vijay Singh from Farrukhabad in the 2012 Assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
Justice Tarun Agarwala dismissed the petition filed by Major Sunil Dutt Dwivedi, who had contested from the seat as BJP candidate and lost by only 147 votes.
The petitioner had contended that Singh had been convicted by a court in Lucknow which had also awarded him life sentence vide order dated 17.07.2003 as a result of which he was qualified for fighting the Assembly elections in 2012.
However, the High Court was of the view that the petitioner's conviction was "kept in abeyance" by the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court vide order dated 23.08.2013 which "does not have the effect of obliterating the disqualification", nevertheless making it "non-operative" and enabling him to stand in the election.