Patna, Mar 29 (IANS): Patna High Court issued notice to 25 candidates, including the winning candidate, who contested the Bihar 2020 Assembly elections from Arwal constituency after a petitioner Rahbar Adbin filed a plea against the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Deepak Sharma for hiding criminal cases in an affidavit while filing nomination.

"I had filed a complaint against the BJP candidate but the court issued notice to all candidates including Mahanand Singh of CPI (ML) who won from the Arwal constituency in 2020," Abdin said.

"Patna High Court has asked all the candidates that why the elections shouldn't be cancelled," Abdin said while quoting the High Court notice said.

"The notice has been issued on the basis of Supreme Court guidelines pertaining to the cancellation of elections in case of mischief by candidates. All the candidates have the right to defend themselves," Abdin said.

Such a situation arose due to the callous attitude of the Returning Officer (RO) who did not check the criminal background of the particular candidate.

"The mischief was done by the BJP candidate and the RO of Arwal is equally responsible for allowing him to take part in the electoral process despite hiding the criminal cases against him. The action should be taken against them," Mahanand Singh, who won the elections in 2020 said.

"I see a conspiracy of the BJP to drag me into all this. How can I be blamed for candidates for the mischief of the candidate of another party. I have not received the notice so far but, after receiving it, I will reply to it in court," Singh said.