Supreme Court setback for Bhubaneswar Central MLA; plea dismissed

In a major setback for Bhubaneswar Central MLA Ananta Narayan Jena, the Supreme Court has dismissed his petition challenging an order of the Orissa High Court.

The High Court’s decision to proceed with two election petitions filed against him without dismissing them at the preliminary stage has now been upheld by the Apex Court.

BJP’s defeated candidate Jagannath Pradhan and his proposer Gorachand Mangaraj had filed two separate election petitions in the Orissa High Court seeking to declare Jena’s election invalid and demanding a fresh election.

In response, Jena had filed two interlocutory applications requesting the High Court to reject both election petitions without conducting a hearing. However, the High Court dismissed his applications and ordered that the main election petitions should proceed to trial.

Also Read: 30 petitions filed against winning candidates in Orissa High Court

Challenging this order, Jena had approached the Supreme Court by filing two Special Leave Petitions (SLPs). After hearing the matter, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the Orissa High Court’s ruling and dismissed Jena’s SLPs.

As a result, both election petitions filed against Jena will continue to be heard in the Orissa High Court.