india

Updated: Jun 20, 2019 00:04 IST

The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Election Commission (EC) in response to a petition challenging the poll watchdog’s June 15 notification for holding separate by-polls to two Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat.

A vacation bench of justices Deepak Gupta and Surya Kant observed that the matter requires to be heard and listed the matter for a hearing on June 25.

Gujarat Congress leader Paresh Dhanani has filed the petition seeking quashing of the notification for holding simultaneous by-elections to the two seats Union ministers Amit Shah and Smriti Irani have vacated after winning Lok Sabha elections from Gandhinagar and Amethi last month.

The EC has scheduled the separate by-elections for July 5.

In the notification, the poll watchdog said the vacancies for bye-elections to all Houses, including Rajya Sabha, are considered as separate vacancies.

It added separate notifications are issued and separate polls take place for each of the vacancies although the schedule for the bye-elections may be common.

“This is in conformity with the provisions of Section 147 to 151 of the Representation of the People Act [RPA], 1951, and has been the consistent practice of the Commission in such cases.” It said Rajya Sabha seats left vacant following the Lok Sabha elections are casual vacancies.

In his petition, Dhanani argued the notification is a “complete and direct violation” of the RPA.

He added the vacancies are statutory and fall under RPA’s Section 69 deals with vacation of seats by persons already members of one house on election to other house of Parliament.

Dhanani said separate elections would upset the scheme of proportional representation. Each lawmaker’s vote is counted once in Rajya Sabha elections.

The lawmakers list their order of preference for each candidate. A candidate, who is the first choice of most voters, wins.

The Congress wants simultaneous by-polls as it hopes it will help the party win one of the two seats.

It has said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will retain both seats as it has more lawmakers in the state if by-elections are held separately.The BJP has 100 members in the 182-member Gujarat assembly while the Congress has 71.

Dhanani said the EC has adopted a new method of conducting elections by notifying separate elections and is allegedly acting under pressure.

Dhanani’s lawyer, Vivek Tankha, argued the notification for separate by-polls violated the RPA.

The EC opposed the petition in it its preliminary submission before the court.

It said the plea should have been filed in the Gujarat high court and not the Supreme Court.