CHANDIGARH, MARCH 16: The Punjab and Haryana High Court (HC) today reserved its judgment on a petition challenging the Election Commission's (EC) decision to hold elections for five Punjab Rajya Sabha seats in two phases, rather than one as planned initially.The petition was filed by Congress' State unit general secretary Jagmohan Kang, accusing Chief Election Commissioner MS Gill of acting in a ``mala fide and arbitrary manner'' to favour the ruling Akali Dal.
During the 75-minute arguments before the Division Bench comprising Justices H S Brar and K S Kumaran, Congress' counsel Dr Balram Gupta said the modification in the initial notification through two new ones on March 9, splitting the Rajya Sabha polls into two phases was aimed at harming the Congress' interests.
H L Sibal, counsel for the CEC, questioned the petitioner's right to challenge the issue and said the Congress has only challenged the notices of the returning officer and not the poll notification issued by the President of India.``The petition has been filed with a political motive and nothing else,'' Sibal said.
State Advocate-General G S Grewal quoted the A K Wig case of Delhi High Court to establish that the notification was split in accordance with law.Grewal said the effective strength of the Punjab Assembly was 116, and for five Rajya Sabha seats, at least 23 votes were required for each seat which could not be mustered by the Congress which has just 14 MLAs.
Gupta refuted the arguments and said the Congress needed only 20 votes to win one seat in the Upper House if elections were held at once. ``If election is split for three seats, more than 30 votes are required and for two seats, more than 40 votes are required,'' he said. The term of the five RS members expires on April 9.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
