An election petition has been moved before the Madhya Pradesh High Court challenging the election of Congress legislator Ghanshyam Singh from the Datia assembly constituency, seeking the annulment of his recent bypoll victory over the alleged omission of a past criminal case in his statutory nomination disclosures.
The petition, brought by advocate and Bharatiya Janata Party functionary Deepak Belpatri, asserts that while Singh listed two criminal matters in his sworn election affidavit, he withheld information regarding an earlier First Information Report registered against him in 1991. The High Court is expected to take up the petition for an initial hearing next week.
Allegations of Undisclosed Police Case
According to the court filing, the case in question originated during a demonstration and road blockade held in Datia to protest the assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1991. Police subsequently registered a case against 22 individuals, naming Singh among them.
Belpatri contended that by failing to reflect this case in his nomination paperwork for the July bypoll, Singh concealed material facts regarding his criminal antecedents, thereby rendering his election legally void.
Lawmaker Terms Petition a Political Conspiracy
Addressing the press in Datia, Singh stated that he had not received any formal notice or communication regarding the matter from judicial or police authorities and had not yet seen the full petition.
Describing the development as a conspiracy orchestrated by his political adversaries, the legislator said the case dated back roughly 35 years and affirmed that such measures would not intimidate him.
Political Context and Bypoll Outcome
Singh won the Datia assembly seat in the July 30 by-election by defeating BJP nominee Ashutosh Tiwari by a margin exceeding 7,000 votes. The contest featured a field of 20 candidates, among them Damodar Singh Yadav of the Azad Samaj Party.
The Datia constituency had fallen vacant following the disqualification of sitting Congress representative Rajendra Bharti. Bharti had secured the seat in the 2023 state assembly elections after defeating the former state home minister, Narottam Mishra, by more than 7,700 votes. His legislative membership was terminated following an April verdict by a Delhi court that handed him a three-year prison term in connection with a fraud case.
The BJP subsequently chose not to field Mishra in the July by-election, a decision that led to notable demonstrations by his supporters across the constituency.
