The Election Commission on Monday sought the Supreme Court’s permission to hold elections to the Lok Sabha seats, which fell vacant following expulsion of 10 MPs in the wake of cash-for-query scam. The EC counsel Meenakshi Arora submitted that according to the law, it was mandatory to hold elections to these seats within six months from the date of vacancy, which has already expired.A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Y.K. Sabharwal asked the expelled MPs to respond to the EC plea and fixed the matter to be taken up in the first week of August. The Bench made it clear that after deciding this particular issue, the MPs’ petitions challenging their expulsion would be placed before a Constitution Bench. The court had earlier restrained the Commission from holding elections to the Lok Sabha seats, which fell vacant following the expulsion of these MPs.
