RS polls: Madhya Pradesh HC allows MLA to use postal ballot

A division bench of the Madhya Pradesh High Court on Friday upheld the ruling of a single-judge bench allowing Congress legislator Satyadev Katare to take part in the Rajya Sabha elections through postal ballot.

Katare, who is Leader of Opposition in the Madhya Pradesh assembly, had urged the Election Commission to allow him to vote through postal ballot in the Rajya Sabha elections scheduled for June 11.

He had said he was undergoing treatment in a hospital in Mumbai and was unable to be present in the state capital Bhopal to take part in the elections to parliament's upper house.

The Election Commission had turned down his request, claiming that there is no such provision in the law.

The Congress leader then appealed to the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the denial of his request. A single-judge bench of the high court allowed his appeal.

The Election Commission as well as an Independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha election then, in separate petitions, challenged the ruling of the single-judge bench.

The division bench of the high court on Friday upheld the single judge bench's ruling, clearing the way for Katare to vote by postal ballot in the Rajya Sabha elections.

--IANS

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