Kangana Ranaut’s Lok Sabha Election From Mandi Seat Challenged, High Court Issues Notice

The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to BJP’s Mandi Lok Sabha MP, Kangana Ranaut, in response to a petition filed by a Kinnaur resident seeking to overturn her election. The petitioner alleged his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha constituency were ‘wrongly’ rejected by the concerned officials.

Justice Jyotsna Rewal directed Ranaut to file a reply by August 21.

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Notably, Ranaut won the Mandi Lok Sabha seat, defeating Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh by 74,755 votes, with Ranaut securing 5,37,002 votes and Singh garnering 4,62,267 against her.

The petitioner, Layak Ram Negi, argued that his nomination papers were wrongfully rejected by the returning officer (Deputy Commissioner of Mandi), who has also been made a party to the case.

Negi, a retired forest department employee, submitted a "no dues certificate" from his department with his nomination papers. However, he was asked to provide "no dues certificates" from the electricity, water, and telephone departments within a day. When he submitted the aforementioned documents, the returning officer allegedly rejected them.

Negi filed his nomination as an independent candidate. He said he submitted his election papers on May 14 and submitted all the other required documents on May 15.

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Negi contended that he could have won the election if his papers had been accepted and requested that the election be set aside.