SC sets aside Gauhati HC order nullifying BJP MLA's election for concealing info on properties

A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha overturned the high court order and allowed the appeal filed by Pul. The Itanagar bench of the high court had on April 25 declared her election from the Hayuliang assembly seat in Anjaw district as void under the Representation of People Act.

New Delhi:The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside an order of the Gauhati High Court which declared the 2019 election of Arunachal Pradesh BJP MLA Dasanglu Pul as void for concealing information about the properties she owned in the election affidavit.

A bench of Justices AS Bopanna and PS Narasimha overturned the high court order and allowed the appeal filed by Pul. The Itanagar bench of the high court had on April 25 declared her election from the Hayuliang assembly seat in Anjaw district as void under the Representation of People Act. Dasanglu Pul (45), the third wife of former chief minister Kalikho Pul, was re-elected from the seat in 2019 after winning it for the first time in a by-election in 2016 following her husband's death.

Congress candidate Lupalam Kri, who lost to Pul in 2019, had filed a petition challenging her election. Kri claimed in his petition that Pul's candidature was substantially defective as she did not declare her husband's four properties in Mumbai and two in Arunachal Pradesh in the election affidavit. He claimed the returning officer had improperly accepted Pul's candidature despite a written complaint against her.

Dasanglu Pul submitted to the court that according to the legal heir certificate, Kalikho Pul's first wife Dangwimsai Pul is the owner of his properties. She therefore did not mention any of those properties in the election affidavit, Pul told the court.