The Congress has challenged the Election Commission of India’s decision to hold separate by-elections for the two Rajya Sabha seats in Gujarat vacated by Union Home Minister and BJP president Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani in the Supreme Court. And all the eyes are on the apex court where the matter has been kept for hearing on June 25. BJP-ruled Gujarat government is also quite keen on the outcome of the petition and it has also been taking ‘legal sense’ of experts on the topic.
Sources said that when a top politician from Gujarat government inquired with a top law officer about possibility of the petition being allowed by the apex court, the officer said that the EC decision was on a shaky ground as far as Article 80 (4) of the Constitution is concerned. The Article speaks about ‘system of proportional representation by means of the single transferable vote’. The EC has declared the elections on July 5.