SC question mark over Bihar polls but may not put full stop

If the court allows the petitions challenging the dissolution, that would not necessarily bring the ongoing election to a halt. For, the court is not bound to exercise the power conferred on it by the 1994 Bommai verdict to restore the dissolved Assembly.

The court has the discretion to mould its relief in keeping with the circumstances. Since the notifications for two of the four phases of polling have already been issued, the court may choose to invalidate the dissolution without disrupting the election process.

Taking the election as a fait accompli, the court may prefer not to restore the Assembly even as it faults the notification issued by President A P J Abdul Kalam on May 23.

The court also indicated that if it finds the dissolution valid, which is a less likely scenario, it will not have any reason to deliver its operative part before October 18. The election will then proceed unhindered and the verdict will anyway have only academic value.