The hearing of Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, one of the main co-defendants in the Suren Dayal election petition case, started Monday afternoon. He was questioned by his lawyer, Ravind Chetty. The first part of his interrogation focused more on his political background.
Pravind Jugnauth indicated the year that he entered politics and the different times he was elected. At one point, when asked by Ravind Chetty about the old age pension, the Prime Minister recalled that the Lelep Alliance’s 2019 election manifesto included an increase in the pension from Rs 3,623 to Rs 5,000.
The hearing of Pravind Jugnauth will continue Wednesday where various aspects related to the election petition will be discussed in depth.
Earlier, the counter-interrogation of Suren Dayal by barrister Raouf Gulbul ended. Several clips were played in the courtroom, including the press conference of the leaders of Mauritius Sanatan Dharma Temple Federation in 2019, namely Somduth Permallah and Rajendra Ramdhean. They were heard saying that the former Prime Minister, Navin Ramgoolam had never insulted the Hindu community during the 2019 election campaign.
This clip was not aired by the MBC. Raouf Gulbul justified by saying that according to the MBC Act, the station is not allowed to broadcast news related to politics 24 hours before an election.
However, the petitioner insisted that the MBC has a massive audience and had chosen to broadcast Somduth Dulthumun’s press conference because the latter is close to the government.
