New Delhi: In a rebuff to the Congress, the Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected the Gujarat Congress plea against separate bypolls to fill two Rajya Sabha vacancies caused by election of BJP President Amit Shah and Textile Minister Smriti Irani to the Lok Sabha.
The verdict means the BJP having a clear majority in the Gujarat Assembly will win both the seats, nominations for which were filed on Tuesday, the last day, in Gandhinagar by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar (64) and Gujarat BJP OBC cell chief Jugalji Thakor on behalf of the party
Had it been a simultaneous poll for both the seats, the Congress would have won the second seat. It has fielded fielded Gaurav Pandya and Chandrika Chudasama for the two seats.
The Vacation Bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and B R Gavai, however, allowed the Gujarat Congress to file election petition after conclusion of the two Rajya Sabha seats.
It agreed with the Election Commission justifying the bypolls to all Houses, including the Rajya Sabha, as "separate vacancies" warranting separate polls, though the schedule may be the same.
For the BJP, it matters to win every Rajya Sabha seat to acquire the majority it desperately wants. The two by-elections in Gujarat will, however, won''t change its strength since the two seats were even otherwise with the BJP.
Its number would rather go down because of the death of its Rajasthan MP Madanlal Saini, president of the state BJP, in AIIMS here on Monday as the Congress in majority in the state will be able to snatch the seat whenever the by-election is held.
Congress leader Pareshbhai Dhanani, leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly, had moved the Apex Court against the EC declaring separate bypolls for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat.
His contention was that separate elections would upset the scheme of proportional representation as mandated under the Representation of the People Act.
The Court did not agree with his contention that if regular vacancies are existing at the time an election is held, they should be held together to apply the system of proportional representation by means of single transferable vote.
The Election Commission had cited two Delhi High Court rulings of 1994 and 2009, supporting the system of holding separate bypolls in the same state under the Representation of the People Act.
In the 182-member Gujarat Assembly, the BJP has 100 members as against 75 of the Congress and allies while seven seats are vacant.
