The High Court of Manipur on Thursday declared the election result of Kakching MLA Y Surchandra Singh null and void for non-disclosure of vital information in his poll affidavit. The result was declared void under section 100(1)(d)(i) of the RP Act. While passing the judgment, the HC instead declared BJP candidate Mayanglambam Rameswhar – who secured the second highest vote – duly elected as the new MLA of Kakching constituency. The judgment was passed by a single bench of Chief Justice MV Muralidaran, in response to a petition filed by Mayanglambam Ramewshwar under various sections of the Representation of People Act, 1951. “If the basis of the election of the returned candidate, i.e the nomination of the candidate which is stated to be valid, is later on found to be not valid, as in the present case, the very basis and foundation for sustaining the election of the returned candidate goes. In other words, once the foundation is taken away, the election will have no basis to stand and this will be rendered otiose. He cannot be treated to have been elected at all. Hence, the moment there is a finding that the nomination of the returned candidate has been improperly accepted, it immediately affects the result of the returned candidate,” said the court. The petition was filed in 2017 against Yengkhom Surchandra, who was elected on a Congress ticket from Kakching constituency in the 11th Manipur Legislative Assembly in the month of March. He later joined the BJP. In the petition, Rameshwar accused Y Surchandra of failing to disclose full particulars of the assets and liabilities of himself and his spouse. In doing so, the petitioner also pointed out that the returning officer had accepted incomplete and false affidavits. M Rameshwar also pleaded to declare him as the elected candidate in his election petition. “It’s a historic moment in Manipur politics, a glaring example that no one is above law. This is a lesson to all the politicians that the duty of the representative is to show the people the right path not fool them,” said Rameshwar. Surchandra in the election secured 11,133 votes, while Rameshwar came second by securing 10,503 votes.
