The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a plea to defer the April 10 polling in Gautam Buddha Nagar Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh in view of the Congress candidate crossing over to BJP after filing his nomination papers.
“It cannot be notified now. Let’s not tinker with it,” a bench comprising justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Madan B Lokur said while refusing the plea to re-notify the election date for the Gautam Buddha Nagar Lok Sabha seat.
“At this stage, we are not going to do anything,” the bench observed.
After Ramesh Chand Tomar switched over to BJP, the dates for nomination as well as withdrawal were over.
Mr. Tomar had filed his nomination papers as a Congress candidate on March 21 and was allotted the symbol of the party for which he campaigned till April 3.
On April 3, Mr. Tomar had appeared on stage with BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Ghaziabad.
The petition for deferring the election in Gautam Buddha Nagar was filed by Noida residents Mukesh Yadav and Vikrant Singh Kasna through advocate Jitender Mohan Sharma.
They had contended that crossing over of the Congress candidate to the rival party after filing of nomination papers amounts to “corrupt practice”.
The petitioners had said they were compelled to approach the apex court as the representation made by them to the Election Commission was not considered.
With the apex court dismissing the petition, Mr. Tomar’s name will now appear on the electronic voting machine next to Congress’ symbol.
He was the BJP member from Hapur for four consecutive terms from 1991 but had lost the 2004 election from the seat, and had joined Congress in 2009.
