Relief for Chavan as HC clears way for Council poll

The high court here granted clearance today to an Election Commission notification for a poll to the state’s Legislative Council, a vacancy caused to enable Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to get elected. He has to become a member of either House of the state legislature before May 11; else, he’d have to quit as CM.

Anil Parab, a former legislator of the opposition Shiv Sena, had petitioned the court to stop any election to the Council, pending resolution of a dispute on last year’s poll. Among those elected in that disputed poll was Sanjay Dutt, the Congress MLC who resigned to enable Chavan to take his place. The EC had then approached the court.

If the EC could not have organised the Council election in time, Chavan would have had to try the politically embarrassing route of getting himself nominated to the House by the governor to continue as CM.