The Orissa High Court on Thursday 27 February dismissed an election petition challenging the 2024 victory of Sukinda MLA Pradeep Bal Samant, holding that the plea did not disclose the “material facts” required under election law.

The election petition was filed by Pritiranjan Gharai, who had contested from the 54-Sukinda Assembly Constituency in the 2024 Odisha Assembly elections. Samant was declared elected with a margin of 9,577 votes.

The Orissa High Court on Thursday 27 February dismissed an election petition challenging the 2024 victory of Sukinda MLA Pradeep Bal Samant, holding that the plea did not disclose the “material facts” required under election law.

The election petition was filed by Pritiranjan Gharai, who had contested from the 54-Sukinda Assembly Constituency in the 2024 Odisha Assembly elections. Samant was declared elected with a margin of 9,577 votes.

At the Srinagar wing of the Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, a bench comprising Justice Sanjeev Kumar and Justice Sanjay Parihar on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by National Insurance Company Limited. The insurer was seeking to overturn a compensation award granted to a family whose home was damaged during the devastating 2014 floods.

The case originates from a policy taken by late Shad Mohd Bashir, whose residential house at Sarai Payeen, Amira Kadal, Srinagar, had been insured since 2009. Though the policy was renewed annually, the company later claimed that it excluded flood and similar storm-related risks - referred to in technical jargon as “STFI” (Storm, Tempest, Flood, Inundation).