New Delhi, Feb 1: The Supreme Court today upheld the election of Janata Dal (U) MP Mangani Lal Mandal, setting aside the Patna High Court verdict unseating the Bihar parliamentarian for not disclosing information about his first wife and her property.
A bench headed by Justice R M Lodha also imposed a cost of Rs one lakh on the voter, who had challenged Mandal's election, as he failed to convince the apex court that the MP's failure to disclose the information had “materially” affected the election.
Mandal was elected to Parliament from Bihar's Jhanjahrpur Lok Sabha constituency in 2009 general polls, but his election had been set aside by the high court on November 25 last year.
The High Court had declared Mandal's election as void on a writ petition by his constituency voter Vishnu Lal Bhandari.
Bhandari, in his petition, had alleged that Mandal had failed to furnish the information about his first wife and the property she has “which is flagrant violation of the Representation of People's Act.”
