New Delhi, July 23: The Supreme Court on Thursday gave its green signal for holding the by-elections to the Sircilla and Vemulavada Assembly constituencies along with ten other seats for which by-elections are being held.
The Apex Court was responding to a Special Leave Petition filed by the Election Commission.
Apart from clearing the elections, the Supreme Court has also asked the opinion of the EC on Article 151 of the People’s Representation Act. The Court has sent notices to the Centre, Solicitor General, Attorney General and the TRS.
The EC had requested the SC to advise it on what to do if cases like the Sircilla and Vemulavada arise again in future.
It may be mentioned that the elections to these two constituencies were stopped by the EC in view of petitions challenging the election of the winners during the 2009 elections. However, the sitting MLAs of the TRS have resigned even before these cases were settled.
When the EC stayed the elections to these two constituencies because of the pending cases, the TRS challenged the EC decision in the AP High Court and the High Court had directed that elections to these constituencies also could be held along with the others. The EC filed the SLP on the HC decision.
——–NSS