The Supreme Court on Tuesday disposed of a petition filed by the Aam Aadmi Party seeking dissolution of the Delhi Assembly and holding fresh elections.
A five-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu, said: “Now the Election Commission will take over.”
AAP lawyer Prashant Bhushan urged the court to keep the petition alive until the election was declared.
Disagreeing with the suggestion, Chief Justice Dattu, in a short order, observed, “Nothing survives in this petition.”
On November 4, President Pranab Mukherjee dissolved the Assembly on the recommendation of Lieutenant-Governor Najeeb Jung. The Assembly had been in suspended animation since mid-February as the major political parties declined to form the government.
The AAP petition challenged the decision to impose President’s rule in Delhi following the resignation of the Arvind Kejriwal government.
Hearing the petition in September, the court urged the Union government to act at the earliest to prevent “horse-trading.”
The Centre, represented by Additional Solicitor-General P.S. Narasimha, stuck to its position that government formation was in the legislative domain and it required time to see it through.
The AAP contended that the February 16 order imposing President’s rule was to frustrate the ongoing investigation in those corruption cases in which first information reports had been lodged by the Kejriwal government.
“The decision is not only arbitrary and illegal and in violation of the democratic rights of the citizens of Delhi but also mala fide,” the petition said.
It said imposition of President’s rule denied the citizens of Delhi their democratic right to have an elected popular government.
