Indore: Granting relief to Dhar MLA Neena Verma, the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh high court on Monday rejected an election petition filed against her by her opponent Balmukund Gautam and imposed a cost of Rs1lakh on the petitioner.Justice Rohit Arya ruled that the allegations made by Verma’s opponent were without any evidence and hence were untenable. The court also noted that it was apparent that Balmukund had filed the petition only to remain in the eyes of public.The petitioner had earlier alleged that Verma had distributed clothes, door hangings, utensils and other items to prospective voters as a bribe for casting vote in her favour. However, he did not push for these allegations during the final arguments.Balmukund, during final arguments, had made the allegations that BJP activist and leaders Vikram Verma, Ashok Jain and Antu Agrawal had made objectionable speeches during electioneering period which was a corrupt practice. However, the court ruled that there was nothing objectionable in the speeches.“The court imposed a cost of Rs1lakh on Balmukund and directed him to pay the same within a month,” Verma’s counsel advocate OP Solanki said.The case had been pending before the high court for the past four and half years after which it was dismissed.This was the second election petition filed against Dhar MLA Neena Verma. The first petition was filed by voter Suresh Bhandari. It was allowed by the court and Verma’s election was declared null and void. However, an appeal was filed by Verma before the Supreme Court after which the court had granted a stay on the order declaring Verma’s election null and void.While the petition by Bhandari had challenged her election on the ground of incomplete election nomination form, the petition by Balmukund challenged her election on the ground of corrupt practices, which entails a punishment of debarring from elections for six years.

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