Several petitions have been filed in Patna High Court challenging the elections of over 40 elected members of the State Assembly, including Speaker Prem Kumar, Energy and Finance Minister Bijendra Prasad Yadav and others. The court has issued notices to the respondent legislators.
The petitions have been filed by the candidates who lost the election from their respective constituencies, and the court, in the usual course, has issued notices to the elected representatives from both ruling and Opposition parties, but the majority among them belong to the ruling NDA alliance parties.
“Usually, no election petition is dismissed by the court outright. Notices are issued to the respondents, and orders would be passed by the court after examining the material at hand”, said Siddharth Prasad, who represents the Election Commission in the court. The petitions, said to be over 40, have been filed by the candidates who have lost elections from their respective constituencies, said Mr. Prasad to media persons.
The petitions challenging the elections of newly elected MLAs, including the Speaker of the State Assembly and nine-term BJP MLA from Gaya town, Prem Kumar, senior Minister in Nitish Kumar's cabinet, Bijendra Prasad Yadav of JD-U, former Minister Jibesh Kumar Mishra of BJP, Chetan Anand (JD-U) and others. The petition against Prem Kumar has been filed by Akhauri Onkar Nath who had contested the election as Congress candidate and lost by 26, 423 votes.
