Congress moved the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Election Commission to hold separate bypolls to two Rajya Sabha seats in the state which fell vacant due to the election of BJP chief Amit Shah and Smriti Irani to Lok Sabha.
The petition filed by Congress MLA from Amreli and Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly, Pareshbhai Dhanani has sought a direction to the Election Commission for holding the election for the two seats simultaneously.
The petition, filed through advocate Varun K Chopra, is likely to be mentioned on Tuesday before a vacation bench for urgent hearing as a press note issued by the poll panel on June 15 has scheduled the election for both the seats on July 5.
The seats fell vacant after Mr Shah won from Gandhinagar and Ms Irani from Amethi Lok Sabha constituencies.
Mr Shah was appointed as the Union Home Minister and Ms Irani as Minister of Women and Child Development.
Mr Dhanani has sought a direction to quash and declare the poll panel’s order as “unconstitutional, arbitrary, illegal, void ab initio” as he said it was violative of Article 14 of the Constitution.
He submitted that the poll panel be directed to hold simultaneous by-elections and polling for filling of all vacancies in all states, including Gujarat.
The MLA through his lawyer submitted that separate elections for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat would upset the scheme of proportional representation as mandated under the Representation of People Act.
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