Manipur HC declares election of Outer Manipur seat null & void; BJP's Houlim duly elected

In major setback for the (Naga People's Front) NPF party, Manipur High Court (MHC) on Friday declared the 2019 election of Naga People’s Front member of parliament from 2-Outer Manipur (ST) Parliamentary Constituency, Lorho S. Pfoze as null and void.

With the declaration, the judgment order issued by a single bench of Justice MV Muralidaran also acknowledged the Bhartiya Janata Party’s Houlim Shokhopao Mate as duly elected.

In the Lok Sabha Election, 2019, the present MP Lorho S. Pfoze got 3,63,527 votes and Houlim Shokopao Mate got 2,89,745 votes. However, Houlim Shokopao Mate filed an election petition at the High Court of Manipur claiming that the affidavit filed by the present MP during the election process had many defects.

The single-judge bench of Justice M.V. Muralidaran was hearing the Election Petition no. 1 of 2019 filed by Houlim. According to the petitioner(Houlim), there was no proper scrutiny as envisaged under Section 36(2) of the RP Act and that the Returning Officer had “abruptly and improperly accepted” the nomination paper of the Lorho.

(with inputs from agencies)