Plea In Supreme Court Seeks Stay On Rajya Sabha Poll Results In Rajasthan

A plea has been mentioned before the Supreme Court today seeking a stay on the declaration of the Rajya Sabha elections result, in view of six Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) MLAs who had defected to the Congress Party.

A vacation bench of Justices MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose said it would hear the plea only after a response from the Chief Justice of India is received for the listing of the plea.

"We enquired from the Registry. The files were placed before CJI. There has been no communication from there. We cannot hear the case unless it is assigned to us. Please wait," the bench told the counsel of the petitioner.

Recently, Rajasthan BSP had issued a whip asking six MLAs who had won as party candidates but later merged with the Congress to vote for only Independent Subhash Chandra who is in the fray for the June 10 Rajya Sabha elections.

The appeal in the Supreme Court has been filed against an order passed by the Rajasthan High Court on Thursday dismissing a plea which sought a stay on the declaration of result of the Rajya Sabha Elections, underway now.

The appeal filed in the Supreme court demanded a stay on the declaration of result and to keep the votes cast by the six MLAs separately (in sealed cover).

The six MLAs were originally elected as members of the Bahujan Samaj Party and were later declared by the Speaker of Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha as members Indian National Congress (INC).

The appeal filed by advocate Hemant Nahta stated, "Six MLAs of Bahujan Samaj Party, if allowed to participate and their votes are considered in the upcoming voting process as MLAs of Indian National Congress for biennial election of 2022 for the Council of States from Rajasthan scheduled on June 10, 2022, the whole democratic process would be devalued and the perpetrators of illegality would be able to enjoy the fruits of their wrong."

The ill consequences on the electoral process and the democratic values are grave and irreversible in nature and militate against the concept of fair elections, the appeal stated.

The participation and consideration of the votes of the six MLAs in the upcoming election will cause "grave prejudice and irreparable damage to the whole democratic electoral process" of the State and the Rule of Law, it added.

"Grant ad interim ex-parte order/ direction to the Respondent no. 3 (Election Commission) keep the votes cast by the six MLAs originally elected as Bahujan Samaj Party MLAs separately (in sealed cover)/ be not counted till the disposal of the present Petition. Grant ad interim ex-parte order/ direction to the Respondent no. 3 to not to declare the results of the elections till the disposal of the present petition," the appeal in the Supreme court demanded.

Rajasthan High Court yesterday dismissed an application which sought an interim stay on the declaration of result of the Rajya Sabha Elections till the disposal of writ petitions pertaining to the disqualification of the six Rajasthan MLAs.

The six MLAs of the BSP, who were elected to the State Assembly in December 2018, informed the Speaker of Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha, on September 16, 2019, that they merged their political party with the Congress, accordingly, on September 18, 2019, the Speaker declared them MLAs of INC.

The petitioner had filed a PIL before the Rajasthan High Court urging to set aside the order passed by the Speaker and to declare the six MLAs disqualified as the members of the Assembly for defection.

The petition was admitted and is pending adjudication before the High Court.

BSP and Madan Dilawar, a sitting MLA of Bharatiya Janta Party, had also filed petitions before the top court seeking disqualification of big six MLAs, which are pending adjudication.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)