Abhishek Manu Singhvi
The Congress on Thursday demanded that the Rajya Sabha elections for two seats of Gujarat that fell vacant after BJP President Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani were elected to Lok Sabha, should be held on the same day.
Shah and Irani were Rajya Sabha MPs from Gujarat before winning their first Lok Sabha election this year.
Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters here, Congress Rajya Sabha MP and spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi referred to the announcement of Lok Sabha results for Gujarat's Gandhi Nagar and Uttar Pradesh's Amethi on May 23 and 24, and said: "You cannot use a technicality that some figures were known on May 23 and some on 24 May and therefore you will have it (the Rajya Sabha election) separately."
He said the party has called upon the Election Commission that if elections for the two seats were to be held on separate dates, it would be unconstitutional and illegal. "This would be playing with the MLAs' mandate," he said.
"It would be completely contrary to conventions because it has happened earlier in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and other states. Whenever you have two seats of a state going vacant, elections are held together.
"My apprehension can be proved unfounded by a two-line statement, immediately today or tomorrow by the Election Commission that there are no intentions of having separate elections for the two seats," said Singhvi.
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