Azam Khan disqualification: Supreme Court berates Election Commission for its "alacrity"; orders poll body to defer Rampur bye-election

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Election Commission of India to defer issuing a gazette notification for Rampur bye-election till November 11, Friday so that Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Azam Khan can seek a stay on his conviction which led to his disqualification from the seat..A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justices Hima Kohli and JB Pardiwala also took an unfavourable view of the Election Commission notifying bye-elections in a jiffy."Look at the alacrity with which you are acting! Will you declare a seat vacant in every case the next day itself," the Court remarked.It, therefore, directed the EC to hold off the exercise till November 11 and directed the Additional Sessions Judge Rampur to advance the hearing in Khan's plea for stay of conviction and dispose of the same tomorrow. "Additional Sessions Judge Rampur shall prepone hearing in stay of conviction and take it up tomorrow. The stay application to be disposed of on the same day. The issuance of gazette notification for declaring the election schedule for 37 Rampur Constituency shall be declared on or after November 11 depending on the order of the sessions court," the Court directed..The court noted that since disqualification from assembly was a result of conviction, it would not stand once the order of conviction was stayed."Just make a statement that you won't issue gazetted notification for the next 72 hours and if conviction is not stayed then it is the end," remarked the CJI during the hearing..Senior Advocate P Chidambaram had earlier argued that that the disqualification notice by the Assembly came only a day after the conviction, even as the same yardstick was not applied for other legislators."October 27 was the conviction was giving a speech for promoting enmity among groups. Maximum sentence 3 years and I am given 3 years. Then assembly next day declares seat vacant in unprecedented manner."The Court concurred with the same noting,"Hold back issuing gazette notification for three days else it seems like what is being done is because the political affiliation of the accused and that is not even handedness," the Court observed..Azam Khan was convicted by a Rampur special MP/MLA Court in connection with inflammatory speeches on October 27, and sentenced to three years in prison. The Assembly had the next day issued a notice stating that his constituency, the Rampur Sadar seat, stood vacated..The Representation of the People's Act states that any person sentenced to two years or more shall be disqualified "from the date of such conviction", and not permitted to contest polls for six years after serving time in prison.Khan was arrested in February 2020 for several offences, and only released on interim bail in May..[Read our live coverage of today's hearing below]