AP High Court sets aside election of TDP MLA

Hyderabad, Mar 10 (UNI) The Andhra Pradesh High Court today set aside the election of TDP MLA Rajendra Pratap Bhanj Dev from the Salur ST reserved constituency of Vijayanagaram District and declared his rival and Congress candidate Peedika Rajanna Dora as elected during the elections held on April 20, 2004.

The High Court gave the order on a petition filed by Mr Dora contending that Bhanj Dev had submitted a false caste certificate and did not belong to the ST community.

The congress candidate said he had also appealed to the Returning Officer at the time of filing of nominations but he had not rejected the nomination of the TDP candidate.

Mr Dev, however, contended that he was an ST candidate and all his family members were being treated as STs.

He also contended that High Court could not determine the caste of a person and there was a separate mechanism for the purpose.

Mr Justice B Sesha Sayana Reddy rejected the contention of the TDP MLA and set aside his election. He however gave a month's time to him to appeal to the Supreme Court against the decision and withheld the implementation of the High Court order till then.

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