A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest writ petition against sitting Rajya Sabha MPs and MLAs contesting Parliament elections without resigning from their respective posts.
The petition was filed by K.O. Johney of Kochi. According to him, some of the sitting Rajya Sabha members and MLAs were contesting in the Lok Sabha elections without completing the tenure in those respective posts. If the sitting members contest and win the elections, byelections would have to be held entailing huge expense.
He contended that the law did not permit MLAs or members of local bodies to contest elections as they are holding benefits under either the State government or the Centre. Therefore, they could not continue as members after filing nominations. The petitioner sought a directive to the Election Commission to reject the nomination papers of sitting members of Rajya Sabha and Assemblies to contest Parliament elections without resigning from their posts.
The Bench observed that it was for the Election Commission to take a call on the issue and asked the petitioner to approach it. Counsel for the petitioner then sought to withdraw the petition, which the court allowed.
