On Wednesday, the Supreme Court postponed the hearing for two weeks. (File)
New Delhi:
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court postponed the hearing for two weeks for an appeal challenging the election of former congressional president Rahul Gandhi in 2019 in the constituency of Wayanad Lok Sabha in Kerala.
The highest court was to hear the appeal of a Saritha S Nair against the decision of October 31, 2019 of the High Court of Kerala by which her electoral petitions contesting the polls of Lok Sabha in Wayanad and Ernakulam were also rejected.
Ms. Nair’s nomination files for challenging Lok Sabha’s polls for Wayanad and Ernakulam Lok Sabha’s seats were rejected by returning officers in 2019 because of his conviction and his conviction in two criminal cases related to the solar scam in the state.
On Wednesday, a bench from Chief Justice SA Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy took note of the appeal from Ms. Nair’s counsel and welcomed it.
“In view of the letter sent by the lawyer registered in the file for the petitioner requesting the adjournment, put in place after two weeks,” said the supreme court in the order.
Earlier, the High Court of Kerala had not accepted the pleadings of Ms. Nair contesting the elections in the two seats of Lok Sabha and had declared that her nomination papers had been rejected because the conviction in the two criminal cases was not not suspended.
She indicated that only the convictions in these cases had been stayed by the court of appeal.
The High Court stated that it was clear from the remedies requested in the motion for appeal that Ms. Nair only requested the suspension of the sentence and not the suspension of the sentence.
Ms Nair’s candidacy statements were rejected under section 8 (3) of the Representation of Persons Act 1951, which provided for challenge for conviction and conviction in a criminal case.
Gandhi won the Wayanad seat in Kerala – the second seat he contested in the 2019 polls – with a record margin of 431,770 votes. He had defeated his closest rival PP Suneer of the Indian Communist Party, who had won 274,597 votes, while Gandhi had 706,367 votes.
