SC stays Allahabad HC order directing EC to hold by-polls on UP’s Suar assembly

New Delhi [India], November 6 (ANI): The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Allahabad High court order, which directed the Election Commission to hold by-polls on the Suar assembly seat in Rampur district of Uttar Pradesh, which had fallen vacant after the disqualification of Abdullah Azam Khan, son of former cabinet minister Mohd Abdullah Azam Khan.
A bench headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde stayed the High Court order.
The Allahabad High Court had annulled the election of Abdullah Azam Khan on the grounds of being underaged. The division bench of the High court had in October also passed orders directing the ECI to start the process forthwith for holding by-elections, as the candidate — Abdullah Azam Khan — had been disqualified in December 2019.
Khan and Election Commission had both approached the top court against the High Court order.
The Election Commission has failed to perform its constitutional and statutory duty to hold the by-election for the constituency within the time prescribed under Section 151A of the Representation of People’s Act, 1950, the High Court had observed.
Abdullah Azam Khan was elected as an MLA from Suar seat from Rampur in 2017. He was disqualified from the membership of the State Legislative Assembly for being less than 25 years of age on the date of the election, in December last year.
He was found guilty by the Allahabad High Court for submitting a forged birth certificate to the election body to contest elections. The High Court has also turned down the plea filed by the Election Commission, which said they cannot go ahead with the by-polls since Abdullah Azam’s forged birth certificate case is still pending in the Supreme Court.
The High Court order had come on a petition filed by Shafiq Ahmed, a former chairman of Nagar Palika Parishad of Swar tehsil, who sought a direction to conduct by-polls on Suar seat. (ANI)