By IANS,
Mumbai : The Bombay High Court Wednesday allowed the state election commission to go ahead with the process to hold by-election to a vacant seat in the Maharashtra legislative council, which will be contested by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.
The ruling of Justice R.P. Sondurbaldota, which provides relief to Chavan, came on an the poll panel’s application Monday to initite the process for conducting the by-election which would be completed by May 10.
The election would help Chavan get elected to the house. Last Nov 11, Chavan took over as the chief minister, succeeding incumbent Ashok Chavan who resigned over the Adarsh Society scam.
Under the constitutional provisions, Chavan is required to get elected to either house of the state legislature within six months of taking over as chief minister, failing which he would cease to continue in the post.
Last month, senior state Congress leader Sanjay Dutt, elected as legislative council member from Thane district last year, quit to facilitate the election of Chavan.
Following Justice Sondurbaldota’s ruling, the election commission is likely issue the poll notification shortly.
The election commission’s application came in the wake of a plea challenging the June 2010 election for members of legislative council.