Lucknow:

Former BJP MP Maneka Gandhi has moved the Allahabad High Court challenging the recent election of Samajwadi Party MP Ram Bhual Nishad from Sultanpur Lok Sabha constituency.

Maneka Gandhi, who lost to Mr Nishad by a margin of 43,174 votes, filed an election petition with the court registry on Saturday.

This petition is likely to come up for hearing before the Lucknow bench on July 30.

In the petition, Maneka Gandhi alleged that Nishad had concealed information related to his criminal history in the affidavit submitted at the time of filing of nomination in the recent Lok Sabha election.

It claimed that 12 criminal cases were pending against Nishad, whereas he has given information about only eight cases in his election affidavit.

The petition claimed that Mr Nishad had hidden information about criminal cases at Pipraich police station of Gorakhpur district and at Barhalganj police station.

The petition urged the HC to set aside Mr Nishad’s election and declare Maneka Gandhi as the elected candidate.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Kolkata:

ISKCON on Friday said it has sent a Rs 100-crore defamation notice to BJP MP Maneka Gandhi for questioning the religious organisation over its upkeep of cows in its gaushalas (cowsheds).

An undated video of the former central minister has gone viral in which she could be heard making accusations against the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).

“Today, we have sent a Rs 100-crore defamation notice to Maneka Gandhi for levelling completely unfounded allegations against ISKCON,” its vice-president Radharamn Das said in a statement.

Stating that the worldwide community of ISKCON devotees, supporters and well-wishers are deeply pained by the allegations, he termed these as “malicious accusations”.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)