Gauhati High Court declares election of Arunachal Independent MLA Karikho Kri in 2019 as null and void

The Gauhati High Court on July 17 declared the election of an Arunachal Pradesh MLA in 2019 as null and void.

Karikho Kri, who was elected as an independent MLA from the Tezu Assembly constituency in Arunachal Pradesh, became the second representative to be disqualified after BJP’s Dasanglu Pul on April 25. 

The court gave the verdict on Juy 17 in response to an election petition filed by Congress candidate Nuney Tayang, challenging the declaration of the 2019 Assembly election result.

Justice Nani Tagia in his order said, “Consequently, having answered the issues framed for determination in the instant case in the manner indicated above, the election of the respondent/returned candidate from Tezu assembly constituency is hereby declared void…” Justice Tagia further observed that Kri had not submitted his nomination paper in accordance with Section 33 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and therefore, his nomination paper is liable to be rejected under Section 36 (2)(b) of the same Act.

Dasanglu Pul was representing the Hayuliang Assembly seat, had the High Court order stayed by the Supreme Court.

Dasanglu Pul (45), the third wife of former chief minister Kalikho Pul, was re-elected to the seat in 2019 after initially winning it in a by-election in 2016 when her husband died. 

Congress candidate Lupalam Kri, who lost to Pul in 2019, had filed a petition in the court, challenging her election.

Hearing the petition, the bench of Justice Nani Tagia observed that "the respondent/returned candidate had not presented her nomination paper in accordance with Section 33 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and, as such, the nomination paper of the respondent/returned candidate is liable to be rejected under Section 36 (2) (a)" of the said Act.

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