EC disqualifies MP minister for 3 years

New Delhi, June 24

The Election Commission has disqualified Dr Narottam Mishra, a minister in BJP’s Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh Government, from contesting elections for three years for submitting wrong accounts of poll expenses. It has come down heavily on the “menace of paid news”, saying it had assumed “alarming proportions”. 

It observed that it had found that irrespective of “whether the alleged expenditure when added to Dr Mishra’s reported account breaches the permissible limit or not, the fact remains that he has not only knowingly submitted a false account of expenses but also attempted to circumvent the legally prescribed limit”.

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With this, Dr Mishra’s election from Datia in the 2008 Assembly elections also stands void. The EC had served a notice on January 15, 2013. He moved the High Court and the Supreme Court, but did not get relief. 

Dr Mishra said he would challenge the order, adding that the order was “infructuous” since it pertains to 2008 polls. The  Congress has sought his resignation. — TNS/Agencies