The Himachal Pradesh High Court has issued a notice to Kangana Ranaut, the BJP Lok Sabha member from Mandi, in response to a petition challenging her election victory. The petition was filed by Layak Ram Negi, a resident of Kinnaur, who claims his nomination papers were improperly rejected.

Justice Jyotsna Rewal has directed Ranaut to respond by August 21.

Ranaut secured the Mandi Lok Sabha seat by defeating Congress candidate Vikramaditya Singh by a margin of 74,755 votes, garnering 537,002 votes compared to Singh's 462,267.

Negi, a former forest department employee, argues that his nomination papers were wrongly dismissed by the returning officer, the Deputy Commissioner of Mandi. He asserts that his premature retirement and accompanying "no dues certificate" from his department were submitted with his nomination. However, when asked to provide additional "no dues certificates" from the electricity, water, and telephone departments, Negi claims the returning officer refused to accept them, leading to the rejection of his papers.

Negi contends that the election should be annulled, stating that he could have won if his nomination had been accepted.