With the Delhi Assembly being dissolved, the Supreme Court on Tuesday disposed of the petition filed by the Aam Aadmi Party and left it to the Election Commission to decide the question of holding fresh elections in the Capital.
A Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice Hl Dattu commended the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) PS Narasimha for acting “appropriately” in the matter. On the previous date of hearing, Court had asked the Centre to take a decision soon as the Delhi Assembly was kept in suspended animation for past eight months.
Before the court decided to close proceedings, AAP counsel Prashant Bhushan informed the court that one of the prayers in the petition still survived. He referred to the prayer to hold fresh elections and asked the court to suggest a time-frame to hold polls.
The Bench, also comprising Justices J Chelameswar, AK Sikri, RK Agarwal and Arun Mishra, refused to concede to this demand stating that it was the job of Election Commission to decide on timing of polls. It refused to enter into the EC domain. However, the question of law raised by AAP was left open. The AAP had said that if a situation arises in a state where no political party is in a position to stake claim to form government, the Assembly should necessarily be dissolved as otherwise it would open scope for horse-trading.
Even as the matter was pending before a Constitution Bench, the Court gave sufficient opportunities to the Centre to take an independent decision either to form an alternate Government or dissolve the Assembly. The delay by the Centre was criticised by AAP which accused the BJP-led Government at Centre of deliberately dragging feet for fear of losing if fresh elections are declared.
The court issued notice on AAP’s petition in January this year and later directed both BJP and Congress to respond both legally and factually on whether there was any scope for Government formation. The two national parties claimed that the question that squarely fell for court’s consideration was a political decision as one could not force the l-G or President to dissolve the House by a judicial order. It further alleged that AAP had no basis to file a petition as it was motivated by political interest to approach court.
The Bench, on past occasions, had lost out on patience with the Centre and had even begun to hear the petition on merits. l-G recently wrote to President seeking permission to invite BJP, the single largest party in the Assembly with 29 MlAs, to form Government. After President gave the nod and l-G met all political parties of Delhi, Court sensed positive attempts made and decided to defer the case for 10 days in the hope of seeking a breakthrough that finally arrived.