NEW DELHI: Facing a challenge to his Rajya Sabha election from Gujarat last year, foreign minister S Jaishankar told the Supreme Court that the appeal failed to disclose any cogent reason and said the Election Commission was right in holding separate elections for the two RS seats falling vacant after the resignations of Amit Shah and Smriti Irani, reports Dhananjay Mahapatra.
“The grounds taken in the petition are imaginary and have no legal basis. Allegations ...are wrong and baseless... ...The appeal does not deserve indulgence of the SC and the appellant should not be granted any relief...,” Jaishankar said.
“In the instant case, specific allegation with regard to the non-compliance of any specific provision of the Constitution or of the Representation of People Act or rule made thereunder are not made out by any of the appeals challenging the Gujarat HC which had dismissed the petitions,” he added.
He relied on three SC judgments, which upheld the election of former PM Rajiv Gandhi from Amethi to Lok Sabha in 1981 and 1984 and had ruled that “in an election petition, pleadings have to be precise, specific and unambiguous and if the election petition does not disclose a cause of action, it is liable to be rejected in limine”.
The defeated candidate, Congress’s Gaurav Hemantbhai Pandya, had termed Jaishankar’s election unconstitutional on the ground that the EC had held polls for the two RS seats on the same day but through separate voting.