Shimla, October 25: The High Court of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday declined to grant interim relief at this stage to veteran Congress leader Vidya Stokes who had challenged the rejection of her nomination papers by the returning officer from the Theog constituency for the Assembly poll.
However, at later stage, the counsel for Stokes sought permission to withdraw the petition filed by her with liberty to agitate the matter before the appropriate forum. On this, a division bench comprising acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Sandeep Sharma allowed the request and permitted him to withdraw the petition with liberty to agitate the matter before the appropriate forum.
Stokes, in her petition, challenged the decision of the returning officer on the ground that the officer had not acted in accordance with law and rejected her nomination illegally. The returning officer had on Tuesday rejected the nomination of the Congress veteran. Stokes had filed her papers late on Monday, which came under scrutiny because another candidate Deepak Rathore too had submitted the authority letter of the party and was a claimant to the party symbol.
The returning officer pointed out that Rathore’s name had figured on the Congress’ list released a day before the last date for paper filing, and moreover Rathore had filed his nomination prior to Stokes.
