EC disqualifies MP minister for filing wrong expenditure info

In a major setback to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in Madhya Pradesh, the Election Commission on Saturday disqualified senior minister Narottam Mishra for filing wrong accounts of election expenditure in the 2008 Assembly polls. In another order, the Commission also rejected pleas of 21 AAP legislators of Delhi Assembly to drop office of profit case against them. The EC in its final hearing, likely to be in August, will decide on their disqualification.

A stringent punishment, however, came for the MP minister, with the EC, disqualifying him from contesting elections for three years.

In its 69-page order, the Commission also used some strong words against paid news, calling it a “cancerous menace” that is assuming “alarming proportions” in the electoral landscape. His election from the Datia Assembly constituency also stands void.

A full bench of the Election Commission comprising Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and Election Commissioners AK Joti and OP Rawat, in its order indicting Mishra, unseated him under various sections of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951. Mishra, who won from Datia Assembly constituency, is the minister for Water Resources and Public Relations and is the chief spokesperson of the Shivraj …read more