HC rejects Nishad's plea to stay RS by-poll

Patna, June 26: Patna High Court on Thursday rejected the petition of Jainarain Nishad, recently disqualified from Rajya Sabha, seeking a stay on Thursday's by-poll for the lone upper house seat until disposal of his writ petition.
Justice Ajay Kumar Tripathy said there was no reason to stay Thursday 's election and allowed the polling, which began this morning, to proceed after hearing Nishad's lawyer YV Giri.
Tripathy had reserved his order on the interlocutory petition filed by Nishad as part of in the original writ petition challenging his disqualification in April this year.
Nishad had been disqualified from Rajya Sabha two years ago when despite being an NDA member he had campaigned for RJD before the Bihar assembly polls. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj had petitioned against him following which he was disqualified.
The contest for the seat was necessitated as an independent Shivshanker Nishad, whose candidature was proposed by some RJD MLAs including its deputy leader in the state assembly Shakeel Ahmed Khan, jumped into the fray against BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy on June 16, the last day of filing nominations.
Khan, who had proposed the name of Nishad said the party would back him as the ruling NDA had given ticket to Rudy, an upper caste leader, disregarding the fact that the seat had fallen vacant of a leader belonging to an extremely backward caste.
Rudy's victory after rejection of Jai Narain Nishad's petition is a foregone conclusion even if the opposition parties vote en bloc for Nishad.
Agencies
Posted online: Thursday , June 26, 2008 at 02:34:27Updated: Thursday , June 26, 2008 at 02:34:27
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