Chandigarh, May 08: The Punjab and Haryana High Court today set aside the election of ruling Indian National Lok Dal MLA Ram Phal Kundu from the Safidon assembly constituency in Haryana. Justice Viney Mittal set aside Kundu's election on a petition filed by a defeated Congress nominee Kamal Sharma, who is a practising lawyer in the high court.
Sharma had maintained that his nomination papers were in order and they were wrongly rejected by the returning officer during the elections to the 90-member assembly in March 2000. The court also directed the election commission to hold fresh elections to the Safidon assembly constituency.
The verdict poses no threat to the Om Prakash Chautala led INLD government in the state as it has 47 members, including Kundu, in the House, which has one vacancy. The break-up of other parties is Congress 20, Haryana Vikas Party (HVP) two, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Republican Party of India (RPI) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) one each and 11 independents.
Election to the Fatehabad assembly constituency is slated for May 21. Bureau Report