Election Commission disqualifies MP minister Narottam Mishra for 3 years

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has ordered the disqualification of Madhya Pradesh minister Narottam Mishra for having filed wrong account of his poll expenditure during the 2008 assembly election in the state.
As laid down under Section 7(b) of the Representative of the People Act, 1951, Mishra stands debarred from being member of either Houses of the state legislature and also from contesting polls for three years from the date of issue of the disqualification order.
Mishra is currently a minister in the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government. He can no longer be in the Cabinet in view of EC ordering his disqualification and will have to skip the 2018 assembly poll in Madhya Pradesh.
The petition seeking Mishra's disqualification was filed in 2009 by Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti, alleging that the former had not included expenses incurred by him on 'paid news' while filing his expenditure statement before EC after the 2008 poll.
The Commission had issued a notice in January 2013 seeking his response.
Mishra challenged the notice in the MP high court bench at Gwalior and managed to get a stay in light of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan's case proceeding in the top court. The high court, however, vacated the stay order after considering the facts submitted by complainant's counsel.
Mishra then appealed to the Supreme Court to stall the EC proceedings but the top court did not grant him any relief.
Last year, the poll panel questioned Mishra in Delhi about the allegations made in the disqualification petition.
Section 10 A empowers EC to disqualify a candidate if he fails to submit account of his poll expenses in time and in the manner required by the Act. In Mishra's case, the money spent by him on paid news did not reflect in his poll expenses account filed with the Commission.
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