HC reserves verdict on Bijepur poll petition

The Orissa High Court today reserved its verdict on a plea for dismissal of a petition filed by a BJD leader following his defeat against Congress MLA Subal Sahu in the 2014 assembly elections.
Sahu, who was MLA from the Bijepur constituency, had died in August.
His family members had approached the High Court for dismissal of the election petition filed by BJD's Prasanna Acharya, saying the petition had become infructuous as the respondent had died.
Acharya, however, argued that the Representation of Peoples Act does not have any provision to dismiss a poll petition even if the respondent dies during the course of trial.

After hearing the arguments of both parties, the bench of Justice S K Mishra reserved his verdict.