EC ban on Mayawati: Supreme Court refuses relief

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to entertain a plea by BSP supremo Mayawati against the Election Commission’s 48 hour ban on her from canvassing in the Lok Sabha elections for breaking the Model Code of Conduct.

Dushyant Dave, appearing for Mayawati, requested the court to hear its argument as there were important meetings scheduled for the day.

The court said in that case they must file a separate plea if they were aggrieved.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also expressed satisfaction after the Election Commission informed it about the action taken against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Mayawati, Union Minister Maneka Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan for making speeches that violate the code of conduct during the elections.

The Chief Justice said: “It seems you’ve got your powers back.” His repartee came after the top court was told by the poll panel on Monday that it was almost “powerless”, when it came to taking punitive measures.

The bench said that it “seems the EC has finally woken up to take action”, to which senior advocate Aryama Sundaram, appearing for the EC, said: “We found we have several powers.”

The Chief Justice also said that it would not pass any interim orders at this stage.

Updated on: April 16, 2019 at 13:16 IST   |   Published on: April 16, 2019 at 11:03 IST

IANS