The wily Kamal Nath. In a relief to Kamal Nath, the Supreme Court pulls up the Election Commission and stays its order of withdrawing the star campaigner status of the former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader.
Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the Election Commission, submitted before a bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde that the matter has become infructuous as the campaigning has already ended and the bypolls are due on November 3.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing Kamal Nath, opposed the arguments made by Dwivedi. “No notice was issued to us and this was arbitrary,” said Sibal
Pulling up the Election Commission, the Chief Justice said: “We are staying your order.”
The Chief Justice asked the poll panel, who gave it the power to delist a candidate from being a star campaigner or a leader of the party under Section 77 of the Representation of People’s Act?
Dwivedi submitted, “We will file a reply.”
The top court reiterated, where the Election Commission has drawn the power to pass such orders even as the poll body stated that the matter is remediless since campaigns are over.
The bench told the poll body to file a reply and added that until then its order remained stayed.
On October 31, former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath moved the Supreme Court against the Election Commission (EC) order to cancel the senior Congress leader’s star campaigner status for violating the model code of conduct (MCC) while campaigning for the bypolls in 28 Legislative Assembly constituencies slated in November.
In the plea Kamal Nath had said the poll body had issued a notice to him on October 21 seeking explanation on a complaint by the BJP on October 18, for alleged violation of the MCC at a rally on October 18.
“Subsequently, the petitioner had filed his reply on October 22. Thereafter, the Respondent No.1 (EC) had also accorded a hearing to the petitioner before passing Order dated 26.10.2020 thereby advising the petitioner to not use such words during campaigning,” said the plea.
Kamal Nath’s remarks against BJP leader Imarti Devi, calling her an ‘item’ had sparked a controversy leading to the suit.
Kamal Nath has contended that the EC passed its order without any notice or hearing to him in the matter, which completely violated the principles of natural justice. His plea submitted that the EC order was illegal, arbitrary, unreasoned, passed in complete violation of basic canons of natural justice and in negation of fair play and therefore, deserved to be quashed.
Meanwhile, the by-elections for 28 assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh have seen many issues coming to the fore during the campaigning yet the silence of the voter has kept all parties and their candidates on tenterhooks before the last vote is cast on November 3. At the same time all parties are confident of their victory in the by-polls.
The revolt by 25 Congress MLAs who left the party in the state brought down the Kamal Nath-led Congress government, hence the by-elections.
The Congress has called the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ‘traitors’ and ‘scam-tainted’ while the BJP has targeted former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Kamal Nath for ‘misrule’ during the 15-month tenure of his government.
The BJP’s poll campaign revolved around the work done during the current Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s 15-year reign and the transformation of the state since the last seven months after toppling the Kamal Nath government earlier this year.
The BJP’s poll plank has been development and welfare schemes for the poor and deprived sections of society.
Both the ruling BJP and the Opposition Congress are confident that the people will vote based on their respective poll candidates and their party’s performance.
Congress MLA from Chhatarpur, Alok Chaturvedi, said this election is primarily about the voters ‘deceived by the BJP’.
BJP’s chief spokesperson Deepak Vijayvargiya said, “This by-election is being held on the failed promises made by the Congress because it came to power making several promises, including farm loan waiver, employment to youth but never fulfilled those promises. That is why former Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia and his supporters left the party. The voter will teach a lesson to the Congress on November 3.”
Analysts say the voters for all the 28 seats in the state are not expressing their views directly but say that political horse-trading is taking place. In this situation, people are in a dilemma whom to vote for? The voter is asking what will happen to the development of a specific region if the candidate from a particular party wins the seat from the region but fails to form a government in the state. That is why it is yet not able to decide whom to vote for.
Political analyst Ravindra Vyas said in the ongoing by-elections, the Congress accused the BJP of ‘sell-outs’ and called them ‘traitors’ which made headlines but how much impact such political slogans will have on turning votes in favour of the Congress is yet a matter of conjecture.
Ahead of polling in bye-elections in the states the polls have become crucial for the Congress in three states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.
In Madhya Pradesh, at stake is the state government where the Congress trying to make a comeback but the bypolls in Gujarat and UP are no less important.
The Congress in MP has to win all the 28 seats in the bypolls to make a comeback in the state while Kamal Nath is hopeful and in his campaigns he has been referred as future CM his government fell because of rebellion of Jyotiraditya Scindia who led a revolt in March.
The Congress will need to bag all the 28 seats to again get a majority in the Assembly, which is a tough task. On the other hand, the ruling BJP needs only nine seats to reach the magic figure of 116 for a simple majority. In case the Congress wins less than 28 seats but manages around 24, it will still be in the game.
In the 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly, the BJP has 107 MLAs, Congress 88, BSP 2, SP 1 while 4 are Independents. Voting will take place on November 3 while the results will be declared on November 10.
The seriousness of Gujarat bypolls is that Congress is still alleging that MLAs were bought and showed videos of an alleged conversation of the MLA.
In Gujarat the party is not in race to form government but the election is crucial to gauge the mood of the voters as it may be last by polls before Assembly polls.
The same situation is in UP which is slated for polls in early 2022 as on the 7 seats going for polls six are being held by BJP while one seat was with SP however Congress has nothing to lose but the party has high hopes to open its account in the bypolls. The Deoria seat is home of state President Ajay Kumar Lallu and results will have impact on him as he has spearheaded Congress agitations in the state.
Congress is hoping to win Bangarmau in Unnao but the exit of former MP Annu Tandon and joining SP may prove costly for Congress. Another seat on which Congress is in the contest is Ghatampur. The polls are in the backdrop of Hathras case where the Congress has been on the forefront of the agitation. (IANS)