Orissa HC declares Cong MLA Mohammed Moquim’s election in 2019 null and void

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Monday declared the election of Congress leader Mohammed Moquim from the Cuttack-Barabati Assembly seat in 2019 as null and void.

Adjudicating over a petition filed by BJD leader Debasis Samantray, Justice Sangam Kumar Sahoo annulled the election of Moquim for failing to furnish detailed criminal antecedents during the time of filing his nomination in April 2019.

Samantray, a BJD leader and former MLA of Barabati-Cuttack who was recently elected as a Rajya Sabha member, had moved the high court in July 2019, alleging that Moquim had submitted false affidavits along with his nomination during the May 2019 elections.

The Congress leader was twice fined Rs 10,000 by the court during the adjudication of the case for non-appearance.

Moquim had won the assembly election for the first time in 2019 by defeating Samantray by a narrow margin of a little over 2,000 votes.