High Court directs ECI to hold RS elections for Kerala during present Assembly term

EC’s decision to keep the election process in abeyance on a reference from the Union Ministry of Law and Justice amounted to external interference, the petitioner contended

The Kerala High Court on April 12 directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take expeditious steps to complete the elections to the three Rajya Sabha seats from Kerala which will fall vacant on April 21, before May 2. Justice P.V. Asha observed that when the Election Commission had itself admitted that it was duty-bound to complete the election process at the earliest it was appropriate that expeditious steps be taken by the EC “to complete the elections to the vacant seats before another electorate comes into existence on May 2”. The court added that the EC, which was fully aware of its duty conferred under Article 324 of the Constitution of India in its true spirit, therefore had to expedite the proceedings so as to see that the representation in the Upper House from Kerala was always in full swing and to avoid a situation where the nomination is made by the existing Assembly and voting by another Assembly.