Patna, July 1: The election of former sub-inspector Som Prakash Singh, who won the Obra Assembly seat as an Independent candidate last year, has been challenged in the high court on the ground that Singh’s resignation was not accepted by competent authority.

JD(U) candidate Pramod Kumar Chandravanshi, who lost to Singh by a slender margin of around 800 votes, filed the petition praying that Singh’s election be set aside.

Chandravasnhi’s counsel submitted before a bench of Justice Navaniti Prasad Singh that Som Prakash’s resignation was not accepted by the competent authority, which is inspector-general, but by Magadh range deputy inspector-general. Refuting the contentions of Chandravanshi, Obra MLA’s counsel Arun Kushwaha submitted that according to Section 808 of police manual, sub-inspectors can tender their resignation to the DIG.

On this, the court asked how could the election of Singh be set aside for the department’s fault as the former cop had resigned two months prior to notification of elections.

The court, while posting the matter for hearing on July 8, asked Singh to submit a list of witness and documents by July 6.