A single-judge bench of Justice Ajay Mohan Goyal at Himachal Pradesh Excessive Courtroom issued a discover to BJP Rajya Sabha MP Harsh Mahajan whereas listening to a petition of Congress chief Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Saturday.
Congress chief Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who’s a senior advocate on the Supreme Courtroom, filed a petition within the excessive court docket difficult the interpretation of drawing of heaps guidelines by the election officer following a tie within the Rajya Sabha ballot. He filed the petition on April 6. The Rajya Sabha elections happened on February 27.
BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan received the February 27 election via a draw of heaps after each candidates secured 34 votes every. Mahajan was sworn in as a Rajya Sabha member on April 3.
In the meantime, the excessive court docket declined to simply accept the plea of Singhvi’s counsel, senior advocate Neeraj Gupta, {that a} discover ought to be served to Harsh Mahajan via electronic mail. Sources stated that the excessive court docket noticed that the discover ought to go as per the conventional course of.
Speaking to The Indian Express, Neeraj Gupta stated, “The honourable excessive court docket issued a discover to Rajya Sabha MP Harsh Mahajan over the plea of Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The Rajya Sabha election was tied between the 2 candidates… The fantastic thing about this case is that there aren’t any disputed info. We’re on ideas of legal guidelines. What process was adopted by the returning officer whereas declaring Harsh Mahajan the profitable candidate? There’s non-compliance with Part 65 of The Illustration of the Folks Act, 1951. We request the excessive court docket to serve the discover to Mahajan via electronic mail however the court docket means that discover ought to undergo common course of.”
When the elections to the lone Rajya Sabha seat in Himachal Pradesh had been held on February 27, the ruling Congress had 40 MLAs. The BJP, with 25 members within the Home, fielded Congress turncoat Mahajan in opposition to Singhvi. Six Congress members cross-voted in favour of Mahajan, who additionally secured three votes from Impartial MLAs. With each candidates tied at 34 votes every, Mahajan was declared the winner via a draw of heaps.
The Conduct of Election Guidelines has a provision for the draw of heaps for each Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha elections in case of a tie. The important thing distinction is that in Rajya Sabha polls, the candidate whose slip is drawn loses the election, whereas within the Lok Sabha, the candidate whose slip is drawn wins.
“There’s nothing within the regulation, neither within the act nor within the guidelines which compels an interpretation which requires that the particular person whose identify is drawn within the draw of heaps is a loser. This interpretation is improper and the results of an election which was based mostly on this interpretation can also be improper,” Singhvi had advised reporters after submitting his petition within the Himachal Pradesh Excessive Courtroom on April 6.
“It defies frequent sense, outdated custom and practices, wherever and in every single place on the planet that each time there’s a tie between two folks, the particular person whose identify is drawn… ought to be the winner and never the loser. If our contentions are accepted in the end by the excessive court docket, the outcome declared must be declared to be improper,” Singhvi had stated.
Following the Rajya Sabha election, a disaster erupted within the Congress, which additionally noticed the Vidhan Sabha Speaker disqualifying six get together MLAs, who had voted in favour of Mahajan. The Speaker, nonetheless, had made it clear that the MLAs — Sudhir Sharma, Rajinder Rana, Chaitanya Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, and Devinder Kumar — had been disqualified for not following the Congress whip to vote in favour of the lower movement and the budget within the Vidhan Sabha.
All six joined the BJP and have now been fielded from their respective constituencies for the bypolls to the Meeting seats that might be held on June 1 together with the Lok Sabha polls for 4 seats.
The three Impartial MLAs – Hoshyar Singh, Ashish Sharma, and Okay L Thakur — too resigned from Vidhan Sabha on March 22 and joined the BJP. Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania, nonetheless, is but to simply accept their resignations.