NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Union of India, the Election Commission (EC) and the Delhi Government on a petition filed by BJP MLA Ravinder Nath Bansal seeking to stay the Rajya Sabha polls to be held on January 27 for the Rajya Sabha biennial elections for the three seats from Delhi on the ground that the constitutional process was being violated.
A Bench comprising Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice J Chelameshwar, however, refrained from entertaining Bansal’s petition, which also sought quashing of the Election Commission’s notification issued on December 19 last year for the conduct of the elections.
Senior counsel Fali Nariman, appearing for Bansal, told the Bench that the decision of the EC was ultra vires the Constitution as it had decided to conduct three separate biennial elections to fill one seat each in violation of Articles
80 (4) and 80 (5) of the Constitution.
The relevant provisions in the Constitution mandate for proportional representation by way of a single transferable vote whereas by the present decision to conduct separate elections would give a distinct advantage to a single party having majority in the Assembly to automatically win the seats, the petitioner averred.