SC disposes off AAP plea on Delhi assembly dissolution

The Supreme Court Tuesday disposed off an AAP petition seeking dissolution of the Delhi assembly and holding early elections.

The AAP had moved the apex court seeking direction for the dissolution of assembly and the holding of fresh elections after the president placed the assembly under suspended animation on the recommendation of Lt. Governor Najeeb Jung.

A constitution bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu, Justice J. Chelameswar, Justice A.K.Sikri, Justice R.K.Agrawal and Justice Arun Mishra passed the brief order, saying the petition by AAP is disposed off leaving the question of law open.

At the outset of the hearing that lasted for a few minutes, Chief Justice Dattu asked Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) counsel Prashant Bhushan that he must be happy that his purpose has been accomplished.

This is for Election Commission to decide and it will deal with it, the court said as Bhushan urged the court to ask the poll panel to announce the dates of the assembly elections.

The court appreciated Additional Solicitor General P.S.Narasimha's efforts to being the issue to a conclusion.

The apex court Feb 24 had issued notice to the central government on a plea by AAP challenging the decision of not dissolving the Delhi assembly as recommended by the outgoing AAP government of Arvind Kejriwal.

Initially, the lt. governor had taken the position that it was too early to hold fresh elections and wanted more time for the political situation to unfold that could have possibly resulted in the formation of the government in Delhi.

Finally, the president gave consent to Jung to explore the formation of government by inviting largest party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, to stake the claim. This created the political uproar forcing the government to dissolve the assembly and hold fresh elections.