Khairatabad election will not be notified till pending poll petition is adjudicated: EC tells HC
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The Election Commission of India (ECI) will not treat the Khairatabad assembly constituency as a casual vacancy, the Election Commission of India informed the High Court on Thursday.
Presenting its contentions in a writ petition, the ECI’s standing counsel Avinash Desai also said the Commission would not notify the constituency till an election petition over it was finally adjudicated. The standing counsel was explaining the stand of the ECI in a writ petition filed by P. Vijaya Reddy, an ex-corporator, seeking a direction to the ECI not to notify election of Khairatabad assembly seat.
The ex-corporator lost the Khairatabad assembly election in 2023 as Congress candidate to Danam Nagender of BRS. She filed an election petition, which is pending for adjudication in the HC, challenging Nagender’ election citing various grounds. She wanted the HC to declare her as winner. Nagender eventually joined Congress and contested from Secunderabad Lok Saba seat and lost the election.
The HC recently disqualified Nagender as MLA and declared the assembly seat vacant while pronouncing verdict in a writ petition filed by BRS. The State Assembly secretariat issued a notification declaring the assembly seat vacant following the HC judgement.
Ms. Vijaya Reddy, presently in Congress, moved the HC by filing a writ petition contending that ECI should not notify Khairatabad assembly election till her pending election petition was finalised. The EP filed by her was heard by a bench of Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy and is pending for adjudication. Senior counsel Vedula Venkataramana appearing for her said the question of declaring an assembly seat as a casual vacancy did not arise when an election petition connected to that constituency was pending.
He cited a Supreme Court verdict to substantiate his contention. He also quoted Sections 84 and 98 (c) of the Representation of People’s Act -1951 and said the ECI had no power to conduct by-election to a constituency till an EP connected to it was finalised.
The bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice Vakiti Ramakrishna Reddy, which heard contentions of the counsels of the petitioner and the ECI, adjourned the plea to Tuesday, directing the ECI to file an affidavit explaining its stand on the matter.
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