New Delhi: The by-polls to 15 Karnataka seats, which the Election Commission (EC) had decided to defer, will now be held on December 5. The counting will take place on December 9. Citing proceedings in the Supreme Court regarding the pleas filed by 17 disqualified MLAs of the state challenging their disqualification, the EC said that after deliberations, it has decided that the nomination process will restart on November 11 as per the new schedule.
The poll body, represented by senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, orally informed a three-judge Bench led by Justice N.V. Ramana that the elections to the constituencies would be put on hold till the apex court decides the legality of the disqualification of the dissident Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) legislators from the Assembly by the former Karnataka Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar. Dwivedi said if the ECI had the authority to announce the by-polls, it was empowered to defer it.
The apex court will hear the matter next on October 22 and has expressed its inclination to conclude the issue. As per the new schedule, November 21 will be the last date of withdrawing from electoral battle. As per schedule announced on September 21, the nomination process had started on September 23. It said nomination papers filed before returning officers between September 23 and September 27 will also be considered for scrutiny on November 19.
The EC had told the Supreme Court it would defer the by-polls till it finally decides the pleas filed by the 17 disqualified MLAs. The EC submitted this after Justice Ramana said it would be "better" if the pleas filed by these disqualified MLAs were decided finally as virtually two-third arguments in the matter were already over.
"Then I will ask the Election Commission to defer it (by-polls in Karnataka) for sometime," senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told the bench. The MLAs have questioned former Speaker Ramesh Kumar's refusal to accept their resignations and instead disqualifying them on July 26 for the duration of the current Assembly. Their resignations had culminated in the fall of the Congress-JD (S) government and paved the way for a BJP government led by B S Yediyurappa. In Bengaluru, state Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao questioned the EC's offer to postpone the by-polls. “The by-election has been notified and nominations have started. Why are they now offering to postpone elections? It seems they are being instructed by someone,” he said.
