The Himachal Pradesh High Court issued a notice on a petition challenging the election of BJP MP Kangana Ranaut from the Mandi Lok Sabha seat. The court has ordered the actor-turned-politician Ranaut to respond to the petition by August 21.
The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Wednesday served notice to Mandi-based BJP Lok Sabha member Kangana Ranaut regarding a petition filed by a resident of Kinnaur seeking to have her election annulled on the grounds that his nomination papers for the Lok Sabha seat were purportedly incorrectly denied. Issuing the notice, Justice Jyotsna Rewal directed Ranaut to file a reply by August 21. The petitioner, a Kinnaur resident, has alleged that his nomination papers to contest Lok Sabha 2024 elections from Mandi seat in Himachal Pradesh against the Queen actor were allegedly wrongly rejected.
After a 74,755 vote margin over her competitor Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh, Ranaut was victorious in the Mandi Lok Sabha seat contest. In contrast to Singh's 4,62,267 votes, she had received 5,37,002 votes.
Pleading for setting aside the election of Ranaut, the petitioner, Layak Ram Negi, maintained that his nomination papers were wrongly rejected by the returning officer (Deputy Commissioner, Mandi) and also made him a party. Negi, a former forest department employee, said he was forced into an early retirement and gave the returning officer nomination documents and a "no dues certificate" from the agency. Nevertheless, the returning officer rejected the nomination papers and refused to accept the "no due certificate" that he had filed to the telephone, water, and electricity authorities within the allotted day.
He pleaded that he could have won the election had his papers been accepted and said that the election be set aside.
Ranaut welcomed the Budget 2024 presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 23, saying she was ‘very happy'. "Relief fund has been promised for Himachal Pradesh. We are very happy with the budget," said Kangana.