Cuttack: The Odisha High Court on Monday dismissed the petition of Barabati-Cuttack MLA Mohammed Moquim in the 2019 Barabati Cuttack assembly election case. The High Court also ordered MLA Moquim to pay a fine of Rs 5,000.
Notably, former Barabati-Cuttack MLA Debasish Samantaray had filed a poll petition in the court challenging the election of Moquim from the Barabati-Cuttack Assembly seat. He had lost to Moquim by a margin of 3,827 votes.
Seeking declaration of Moquim’s election as void and fresh polls, Samantaray in his petition has alleged that the MLA suppressed facts with respect to criminal cases pending against him while filing nomination papers.
The former Barabati-Cuttack MLA has further alleged that Moquim did not disclose proper facts about his assets and liabilities.
However, MLA Mohammed Moquim had filed a petition in the High Court seeking the dismissal of Samantaray’s election case without a hearing.
Meanwhile, The High Court dismissed Moquim ‘s petition, directed him to pay Rs 5,000 to the opposition and re-assigned the case to another judge.