NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Wednesday said it would consider next week a plea of Mohammad Abdullah Azam Khan, son of Samajwadi Party MP Azam Khan, against the Allahabad High Court order quashing his election to the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.
Khan assailed the high court order quashing his election as MLA from Suar constituency on the grounds that he was underage and did not qualify for the 2017 polls.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde was informed by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for Election Commission of India (ECI), that an appeal has also been filed against the high court order on the limited aspect with regard to certain observations.
Dwivedi told the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, that the ECI appeal was not listed for hearing on Wednesday.
The bench then said it would be better if the court hears both the appeals together and adjourned the matter for next week.
Last week, Allahabad High Court had asked ECI to start the process forthwith for holding bypoll in Suar constituency, which falls in Rampur district of the state.
On January 17, the top court had refused to stay the Allahabad High Court verdict annulling the election of Khan.
It had issued notice and sought response from ECI and the defeated BSP candidate Nawaz Ali Khan, who had challenged Khan's election.
It said some doubts had been created by placing of documents other than school records to show that Khan was qualified to contest the election.
"We have read the Allahabad High Court judgment, it is based on evidence," the top court had said.
Khan had on December 17 approached the top court challenging the high court verdict which had ruled that he was not qualified to contest the election of the Legislative Assembly as he had not turned 25 when he filed the nomination papers for the 2017 polls.
In his election petition against Khan in the high court, Kazim Ali Khan had contended that the elected MLA's actual date of birth was January 1, 1993 and not September 30, 1990, as claimed in the nomination paper.
Khan was elected as MLA on a Samajwadi Party ticket on March 11, 2017.
The unsuccessful Bahujan Samaj Party candidate had said in his election petition in the high court that educational certificates, passport and visa of Abdullah Khan mentioned January 1, 1993 as the SP MLA's date of birth.
The high court had unseated the Suar MLA after examining the entire facts as borne out of various documents, including the service record of Khan's mother.
It too had mentioned January 1, 1993 as his date of birth.
The court had directed its registrar general to intimate the substance of the verdict to the ECI and the UP Assembly Speaker to take follow-up actions.