The Supreme Court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Election Commission (EC) on a Gujarat Congress leader’s plea for simultaneous by-elections to two Rajya Sabha seats.
The two seats which fell vacant due to the election of Smriti Irani and Amit Shah to the Lok Sabha. Both had been elected to the Upper House from Gujarat in 2017.
A bench of Justices Deepak Gupta and Suya Kant asked the Commission to file response on why simultaneous polls for the two Rajya Sabha seats could not be conducted as pleaded by the petitioner.
On 15 June, the EC announced in a press note that the by-elections for the vacant Rajya Sabha seats will be held on 5 July. If more than one candidates remain in the fray, polling will be held separately on July 5 between 9 am and 4 pm. Results will be declared at 5 pm the same day.
Senior advocate Vivek Tankha appearing for the Gujarat Congress MLA Paresh Dhanani argued that the notice of the Election Commission issued on 15 June is in violation of the provisions of RPA.
