The Himachal Pradesh High Court has issued a notice to Bollywood actress and BJP MP Kangana Ranaut regarding a petition that challenges her election and seeks to annul the entire electoral process. The court has asked Ranaut to submit her response by August 21, sparking discussions about her membership in the Parliament.
Kangana Ranaut won the Mandi Lok Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh by a margin of 74,755 votes, defeating Congress candidate and son of former CM Virbhadra Singh, Vikramaditya Singh. While Vikramaditya Singh received 462,267 votes, Kangana secured 537,002 votes.
The notice was issued by Justice Jyotsna Rewal of the High Court on Wednesday based on a petition filed by Layak Ram Negi, a resident of Kinnaur. Negi alleges that there were irregularities in how his nomination papers were handled, which he claims unjustly barred him from contesting the election.
Negi, who intended to run in the general election, had submitted his nomination for the Mandi Lok Sabha seat. However, he claims his nomination was improperly rejected by the returning officer (Deputy Commissioner, Mandi). Negi asserts that he had taken voluntary retirement from the Forest Department to participate in the election and had submitted all necessary no-dues certificates. Despite this, the returning officer reportedly refused to accept additional required certificates the following day and rejected his nomination.
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Negi has implicated Kangana Ranaut in the petition, arguing that if his nomination had been accepted, he could have potentially won the election. He is now demanding that the election results be invalidated.
