The Andhra Pradesh High Court rejected the plea challenging Narayana’s candidacy

The Andhra Pradesh High Court said on Tuesday that since the election process has begun, it would not get involved in the rejection of the TDP MLA candidate from Nellore city, P Narayana.

D Hanumantha Rao, an attorney from Nellore, petitioned the court, claiming that Narayana had omitted information about his second wife’s assets and details from the nomination papers. Rao sought to have the candidacy rejected.

The petitioner claimed that the returning officer disregarded his concerns and asked the court to step in and provide the returning officer the required instructions to reject the nomination.

The petitioner’s senior attorney, Dammalapati Srinivas, said that if a column is left blank, the nomination form may be rejected. He said that because Narayana had filled out every space, the Election Tribunal was the only place where complaints should be made.

Avinash Desai, a lawyer with the Election Commission of India, said that once the election process has begun, the courts cannot get involved. Judge B Krishnamohan rejected the plea, stating that identical rulings had already been issued by the Supreme Court, the High Courts of Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The petitioner was advised to seek redress from the Election Tribunal.