Election of BJP MP Kangana Ranaut challenged, HC issues notice
Shimla, Jul 24: The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday issued notice to Kangana Ranaut, the BJP Lok Sabha member from Mandi, on a petition filed by a Kinnaur resident for setting aside her election on the grounds that his nomination papers to contest from the Lok Sabha constituency were allegedly wrongly rejected.
Issuing the notice, Justice Jyotsna Rewal directed Ranaut to file a reply by August 21.
Ranaut had won from Mandi Lok Sabha seat, defeating her rival Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh by 74,755 votes. She had polled 5,37,002 votes against Singh's 4,62,267 votes.
Pleading for setting aside the election of Ranaut, the petitioner, Layak Ram Negi, maintained that his nomination papers were wrongly rejected by the returning officer (Deputy Commissioner, Mandi) and also made him a party.
Negi, an ex-employee of the forest department, said that he got premature retirement and produced a "no dues certificate" from the department along with nomination papers to the returning officer.
However, he was given a day to produce the "no due certificate" from the electricity, water and telephone departments and when he submitted them, the returning officer did not accept them and rejected the nomination papers.
He pleaded that he could have won the election had his papers been accepted and said that the election be set aside.
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Kerala court grants pre-arrest bail to actor-MLA Mukesh in alleged rape case
Thiruvananthapuram: A Kerala district sessions court in Ernakulam has granted pre-arrest bail to Malayalam actor and CPI(M) legislator M Mukesh in a case of alleged rape. The court observed that the complainant had not initially mentioned forced sexual intercourse in her first statement and made this allegation only after the initial bail plea hearing.
The case against Mukesh emerged following the release of the Hema Committee report, which exposed widespread sexual misconduct in the Malayalam film industry. The court noted that the complainant, who is a law graduate, had sought financial assistance from Mukesh on two occasions, which led the judge to distinguish between rape and consensual sex. The complainant had alleged that Mukesh raped her in 2010 after promising her membership in the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA).
The court also granted pre-arrest bail to Edavela Babu, a former general secretary of AMMA, who was also named in the case. The opposition has been demanding Mukesh’s resignation following these developments.
