Sc Appoints Dandavate, Reddy To Conduct Jd Polls

The Supreme Court yesterday set aside the Delhi High Court orders on the Janata Dal elections and appointed two senior party leaders, Madhu Dandavate and Jaipal Reddy, to conduct the party polls by July 3.

Thus the apex court has advanced the party elections by about 10 days. The division bench of the high court had asked the national executive to hold the elections by July 15 after deciding the venue.

The role of retired judge N C Kochhar, appointed by the high court with a daily remuneration of Rs 10,000, also came to an end with the Supreme Court appointing the new team.

Dandavate and Reddy will be free to select their own team to assist them in conducting the election. They will also hear all objections and resolve the problems.

The court directed that any objection to be filed in any matter by any party should be done in four days time. However, all questions including the question of venue of the presidential poll would be decided by the two leaders.

The vacation bench consisting of Justice S C Sen and Justice S P Kurdukar expressed no opinion on the merits of the high court judgment delivered on Tuesday. They suggested the compromise formula and both sides chose the panel members by agreement.

Therefore, the court did not go into the allegations and counterallegations over the changes in the national executive and the electoral rolls.

The court passed the order on an appeal by P K Samantray, Janata Dal returning officer, against the high court order, arguing that courts could not interfere in party elections.

There was no objection to the court proposal from the respondent, Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.