In a huge setback to Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, the Election Commission (EC) today disqualified his close aide and senior state minister Narottam Mishra over corrupt practices and paid news during 2008 assembly polls in the state and barred him from contesting elections for three years. Mishra was accused of filing wrong accounts of election expenditure.
His election from the Datia Assembly constituency also stands void and he been disqualified for three years from today.
Rajendra Bharti of the Congress had alleged that Mishra had not filed certain details in his election expenditure in the 2008 polls. The EC had served notice to Mishra on January 15, 2013.
Mishra had moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court and the Supreme Court against the EC notice, but did not get any relief. The EC found that Mishra hadn't revealed his expenditure on paid news.
Mishra holds charge of Water Resources, Public Relations, Parliamentary Affairs portfolios in Shivraj Cabinet.
