 |
|
SC stays Rajya Sabha poll process New Delhi, June 4 Staying the issuance of a notification by the Election Commission, scheduled for today, a vacation Bench of Ms Justice Ruma Pal and Mr Justice B.N. Agrawal, while hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) by noted journalist Kuldip Nayar on the domicile issue, observed that “there can’t be a better case than this” for granting the stay. Issuing notice to the Election Commission (EC), seeking its reply, the court said: “The notification shall not be published and if it is published, it shall not be given effect to.” Seeking reply from the EC by June 14, when another vacation Bench will take up the PIL for further hearing, the Court, however, gave liberty to the poll panel to move an application for modification of today’s order if it felt a need for it. Since the EC was not represented by any counsel today as it could not be served the notice as per the earlier order of April 28, when the court had taken cognizance of Mr Nayar’s PIL and issued notices to the Centre and all states, the Bench said the EC had to be made a party to the case. The court rejected the plea of Union Government counsel Kailash Vasudev pleading against the issuance of stay and deferment of hearing at least till Monday. The Bench said: “Nothing will happen till July. Heaven is not going to fall (by the stay order)... It will be open for the EC to move an application for modification of the order.” Apart from challenging the last year’s amendment to the RPA, deleting the compulsory domicile clause condition for the candidates contesting Rajya Sabha elections, Nayar in his petition had also challenged the provision of open ballot for the poll to the Upper House, effected due to the Amendment to Section 3. His main contention was that the deletion of the mandatory domicile clause for election to the Rajya Sabha, which is essentially a Council of States, amounted to an “assault” on the basic structure of the Constitution. He had blamed both the Congress and the BJP for joining hands to pass the Amendment Bill in Parliament as they wanted to accommodate their leaders defeated in the Lok Sabha election by giving nominations to the Upper House. It “violated” the Supreme Court judgement in famous Keshwanand Bharti case, holding that the basic structure of the Constitution cannot be changed, he said. The EC was to issue notification today for June 21 election to fill 65 seats falling vacant by August this year due to retirement. Nayar in the PIL said any member from outside the state would be only an “agent” of a political party in the Upper House and would have little interest in the development of the state. He said presently nearly 75 members in the Rajya Sabha were from outside the state they represented in the House.  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | National Capital | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
