Lucknow, Oct 17 (PTI) The Allahabad High Court on Thursday asked former BJP MLA Baba Gorakhnath to serve a copy of his application, which seeks the withdrawal of a petition against an SP leader’s election, to all parties and take steps for its publication in the gazette within a week.
In his petition, Gorakhnath has alleged that SP leader Awadhesh Prasad’s oath was incorrect while filing nomination in the 2022 Milkipur assembly bypoll. The SP leader won the bypoll that year and was later in 2024 elected to the Lok Sabha, necessitating by-elections in Milkipur.
Justice Pankaj Bhatia directed that the petition be listed on the 15th day of the said publication, petitioner’s lawyer Sandeep Yadav told PTI.
In its order the Lucknow bench of the high court said, “an application has been filed seeking withdrawal of election petition filed by the petitioner (Baba Gorakhnath) in view of the provisions contained under section 109 and 110 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 read with the Chapter XV Rule 10 of the Allahabad High Court rules -1952”.
Earlier on Wednesday Gorakhnath moved the high court to withdraw his petition challenging the election of Prasad from.
The Milkipur seat has fallen vacant following Prasad’s election to Lok Sabha in 2024. The Election Commission on Tuesday announced bypolls to nine assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh but left out Milkipur due to proceedings in the matter before the Lucknow bench of the court.
Gorakhnath had said he was withdrawing the plea “to pave the way for the by-election in the Milkipur assembly constituency, which had been impeded by the ongoing litigation”.
The plea had alleged that Awadhesh Prasad had taken an erroneous oath during the submission of his nomination papers.
The writ alleged that the notary who authenticated Prasad’s documents did not possess a valid license on the date of attestation. According to Supreme Court directives, it is imperative for the notary’s advocate to hold a current license on the day of document authentication.
Talking to PTI, Prasad, who was elected to Faizabad Lok Sabha in the recent general elections had said, “I vacated the Milkipur seat almost four months ago. It was Gorakhnath’s moral duty to withdraw the litigation and he should have withdrawn his litigation soon after my resignation”.
SP has named Ajit Parad, the son of Prasad, as its candidate for the Milkipur assembly seat. PTI ABN ABN SKY SKY
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