AMN / NEW DELHI
The Supreme Court today stayed the Election Commission’s notification declaring Gujarat’s Talala assembly constituency seat as vacant and announcing the by-poll there along with the Lok Sabha elections.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also issued a notice to the poll panel on a plea by former Congress MLA BD Barad who had moved the apex court against the Gujarat High Court’s March 27th verdict dismissing his plea against the EC’s notification.
The high court had also dismissed Barad’s challenge to the Assembly Speaker’s March 5 decision disqualifying him as an MLA following his conviction in a case for an offence under section 379 (punishment for theft) of the Indian Penal Code.
The apex court expressed displeasure as to how the EC had notified the Talala assembly seat as vacant and announced the by-poll there when Barad’s conviction was stayed by a Sessions court on March 7th.