Mumbai, April 14: In a huge relief to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, the Bombay High Court on Wednesday cleared the decks for the conduct of the “delayed” bypoll to the Maharashtra Legislative Council, in which he is going to be a contestant.
Giving a go-ahead to the Election Commission (EC) to issue notification for the conduct of the bypoll, Justice RP Sondur-Baldota of the High Court noted: “Just because there is a petition pending does not mean statutory proceedings should be held up”.
The bypoll, necessitated by the resignation of senior Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt, is extremely crucial for Chavan, as he will have to get elected the State Legislature on or before May 11 to continue in the office.
This is because, Chavan — who was a Rajya Sabha member and a Minister of State in Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) before he replaced Ashok Chavan as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra on November 11 last year — is required constitutionally to get elected to either houses of the State Legislature within six months of his assuming the office.
Chavan is seeking poll to the State Council, following the vacancy created by Dutt, who put in his papers on March 11, 2011 to facilitate the Chief Minister’s election to the Upper House of the State Legislature.
The EC had filed an application before the High Court on Monday, seeking its permission to conduct the Council bypoll in the pendency of an election petition filed by former Shiv Sena MLC Anil Parab, challenging the election of 10 MLCs in the polls held on June 10, 2010. Parab had contested the manner in which the EC allowed four suspended MNS MLAs were allowed to vote in the June 10, 2010 Council poll.
Incidentally, Dutt was one of the 10 MLCs, whose election Parab had contested.
——–Agencies