S. Sharma, MLA, and Secretary of the Kerala Legislative Assembly S.V. Unnikrishnan Nair have moved separate writ petitions challenging the decision of the Election Commission of India (ECI) to keep in abeyance the election to the three Rajya Sabha seats in the State.
The Kerala High Court has posted the case for Monday, while seeking the view of the commission.
Mr. Sharma submitted that the decision to keep the election in abeyance was incorrect and opposed to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, and Constitution of India. The decision was unsustainable as the election process was announced, the Returning Officer appointed and the election programme finalised and published, he submitted.
The LDF legislator pointed out that his right to elect the Rajya Sabha members would be denied due to the decision of the commission. The new members of the State Assembly would assume office during the first week of May and the existing members, who were elected in 2016, would demit their offices.
It is during the tenure of the existing members of the Assembly that the term of the three members has expired. The election to the vacancies from Kerala is the right of the existing members and delay in conducting the election will take away their right, he submitted.
Mr. Nair submitted that the decision to keep the election in abeyance following a reference from the Union Ministry of Law and Justice amounted to the external interference of the Union Executive on the ECI in the conduct of the election.
The decision to keep in abeyance the election process on a reference from the Ministry amounted to the subservience of the commission to the Union Executive in violation of its independence, which is guaranteed by the Constitution, it was submitted.
The commission has not disclosed the reference it received from the Ministry. Besides the impropriety in the government interfering in the independent functioning of the commission, it is impermissible for the commission to delay the discharge of its constitutional mandate to conduct the election on time, he submitted.
