MP tribal woman moves HC against sarpanch poll winner, says data, ID fudged

Anita, according to the petitioner, was separated from Satyanarayan Ruhela years ago and has remarried since and lives in Rajasthan’s Jhalawar district. Vinita is now married to Satyanarayan.

A single bench of Justice Subhod Abhyankar of the High Court’s Indore bench has sought a reply from the government. The court will hear the matter next on September 13.

Elections for the post of panchayat sarpanch of Bilkheda Vikas Khand, in Narsinghpur tehsil of Rajgarh district, were held on July 8.

In her petition, Rajal Bai stated that Satyanarayan and Vinita had “fraudulently submitted nomination on Anita Ruhela’s behalf without her consent”. She claimed that Anita, like Vinita and Satyanarayan, comes from an OBC community, while the seat was reserved for tribal women.

The petition stated, “Anita filed complaints on the issue before the state election commission, the Rajgarh district collector, and district election commission. But no action has been taken till date.”

It claimed that Anita was illiterate and used thumb impression (purportedly so long as she was in MP),but the nomination filed in her name has been signed by Vinita.

Rajal Bai also alleged that Vinita used Anita’s voter ID by changing Anita’s photo with hers.

On how they learnt about the purported fraud, Ramesh Malviya, Rajal Bai’s husband, told The Indian Express, “Vinita Ruhela did not come to vote, which (for a contestant) was strange. We asked around and it emerged that she was contesting in Anita’s name.”

Malviya said while he is not from an Adivasi community, his wife is a Sehariya, a tribal community. She lost by 92 votes, Malviya said.

Rajgarh collector Harsh Dixit did not respond to calls and messages for a comment.

According to the petitioner, in the MP government’s Samagra Suraksha Mission ID, Vinita is shown as the wife of Satyanarayan Ruhela, with no mention of Anita. “Therefore, it cannot be said that Anita is wife of Satyanarayan Ruhela, and this relation had been misused” in the instant case, the petition stated.

Rajal Bai’s advocate, Manish Vijayvargiya told The Indian Express, “While hearing the petition, the court asked the authorities concerned to conduct an inspection and file their response. The matter comes up for hearing (next) on September 13.”