New Delhi:Stating that the political party did not raise objections when it suited them, the Supreme Court on Thursday shot down a plea by the Gujarat Congress to stay the Rajya Sabha election in the state, scheduled for August 8.
A bench led by Justice Dipak Misra said that no stay can be granted in a matter like this, especially when the primary ground of challenge — use of NOTA in ballot papers, was declared by the Election Commission of India by its circulars way back in January 2014 and again in November 2015.
“How many elections have been conducted since these circulars? Why didn’t you challenge it then? When it suited you, you didn't challenge it but when it doesn't, you raise objections," the bench told senior lawyers Kapil Sibal and Abhishek M Singhvi, who represented the party and Gujarat Congress chief whip. The court also rejected the plea to allow election only if NOTA is not used.
Fate of Sonia Gandhi's political advisor Ahmed Patel is at stake after some of the Congress MLAs left the party to join the BJP while Congress struggled to keep its flock together. Use of NOTA accentuated the problem since a vote is invalidated if a MLA uses NOTA option in the ballot paper, thereby further denting the prospect of Patel’s return to the upper house.
In case of cross-voting, anti-defection law may disqualify a MLA but use of NOTA instead of voting for a candidate from some other party will not kick in disqualification automatically.
Sibal called use of NOTA a “recipe for corruption", arguing the Gujarat Congress chief whip Shailesh Parmar has moved the court now since the cause of action has arisen due to the August 8 poll. He added the EC could not have issued circulars because the statutory rules under the Representation of People Act did not provide for NOTA.
But the bench, also comprising Justices Amitava Roy and A M Khanwilkar, questioned Sibal why the party has come on the eve of the election.
“These circulars were not state-oriented. They were generic in nature. We don’t need to go by one state or another. We are at a loss to understand why didn’t you challenge these circulars, first of which came long back in January 2014. The circulars clearly said they will be applied as and when elections take place," the judges told the lawyers.
The Congress legal team, incidentally, had two Rajya Sabha MPs, Sibal and Vivek Tankha, who were elected with NOTA option available in the ballot papers.
At one point, senior advocate Ashok Desai, who appeared for the Election Commission, submitted that Tankha could vouch for the fact that NOTA was being used in all RS pills after the circulars.
The judges, during the hearing, pointed out that it was not a good argument in law that somebody will wait to challenge something until it starts affecting him. "All circulars and notifications affect all political parties and their members. Anybody could challenge it after 2014 circular. You can't wait till You are affected and come to us on the eve of the election," said the bench.
It said that there was no bar for raising constitutional issues but election could not be issued. When Sibal said that not staying the election will render the issue infructuous, the bench responded it would mean they were not in interested in the points of law at all.
The bench then issued a notice to the EC on the point of law, seeking their reply in two weeks. Even as it noted that the Centre had no role in the dispute, the court requested Attorney General K K Venugopal to assist it on the constitutional issues. The bench fixed September 13 as the next date.
Comments
0 comment