Hardeep Singh Puri Declared Winner Unopposed in By-Election Amid Objections

In the by-election, Congress-supported independent candidate Rajkumar Lohani and another independent candidate Kante Sayanna had also filed their nominations. However, both their nominations were rejected during scrutiny. Rajkumar Lohani's form was rejected for not enclosing the mandatory Form-26 affidavit, while Kante Sayanna's nomination was rejected for incomplete information. Lohani had sought additional time to submit the documents, but the returning officer did not accept his demand. Hardeep Singh Puri was the only valid candidate left in the fray thereafter. After the withdrawal deadline ended on 5 November, returning officer Umesh Kumar Sharma formally announced Puri's election unopposed. Congress MLA Hemant Katare and independent candidates had also raised objections to Hardeep Singh Puri's nomination paper and affidavit during the election process. Congress claimed over 100 lacunae in the affidavit. Prominent among the objections were the absence of his wife's name from the affidavit, details of US assets, and details of foreign currency notes in Swiss bank accounts. Umesh Kumar Sharma had also raised questions on these.