MLA Bijay Shankar’s marriage application rejected

For the time being, Tirtol MLA Bijay Shankar Das will not be able to marry Pratyusha Nanda after the Marriage Registrar's Office in Cuttack on Tuesday quashed the application filed by the legislator for marriage. The marriage registration officer rejected the plea, citing an anomaly in it. 

As per reports, the MLA applied on September 21, 2023, at the Marriage Registrar's Office in Cuttack for registration of his marriage with Pratyusha Nanda, a resident of Arunodaya Market area. 

On learning about it, Somalika Dash, the rumoured girlfriend of the legislator, filed an objection at the same office on October 7. She claimed that Pratyusha was a married woman. 

She had also moved the Orissa High Court on October 17, seeking a stay on the marriage registration. 

The Marriage Registrar's Office held some rounds of hearings on the matter and asked Somalika to depose before the registrar on November 7 and submit documents to prove her allegations against the MLA. 

Also Read: Somalika Dash files objection against MLA Bijay Shankar's marriage registration application in Cuttack

The marriage registrar's office had asked her to prove her allegations by producing witnesses, data, and documentary evidence. The court had summoned Trupti Ranjan Roul, ex-husband of Pratyusha Nanda as a witness. Roul had shown the documents proving their judicial separation.

According to the marriage registration officer, the MLA in the marriage application mentioned that Pratyusha was unmarried. However, the registrar found that Pratyusha was in fact married and got divorced from her husband. 
Finding this discrepancy, the court quashed the marriage application of the legislator.