Jaishankar is misleading HC, claims Congress's Gaurav Pandya

Congress leader Gaurav Pandya alleged before the Gujarat High Court on Friday that External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's claim that the Supreme Court rejected Congress' plea about Rajya Sabha bypoll "on merit" was misleading.

Pandya lost to Jaishankar in a Rajya Sabha by-election in July. He has challenged the BJP leader's election before the high court.

In a reply to Jaishankar's affidavit, filed before Justice Bela Trivedi, Pandya said the BJP leader made "vague" and "misleading" statements about the Supreme Court ruling.

In June, the Supreme Court rejected Congress leader Paresh Dhanani's plea seeking single ballot voting for two Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat.

The two seats had become vacant when BJP chief Amit Shah and Union minister Smriti Irani were elected to the Lok Sabha.

The Congress moved the Apex court after the Election Commission declared that polling will be held separately, which effectively meant the opposition party would not be able win any of the seats, given the numbers in state legislature.

Pandya's reply before the HC on Friday said the Supreme Court dismissed the Congress's plea because of prohibitions contained in Article 329(b) of the Constitution, and not on merits.

"But that decision of the Apex Court is being canvassed before this court as a decision made on merits. The Supreme Court has not gone into the merits," he said.

"The Apex Court has kept the issue open. Unfortunately, the applicant, who is a union minister, is making a bald statement which is not only incorrect but also false. This attempt...to mislead this court deserves to be condemned," Pandya said in the affidavit.

Pandya's election petition in the high court claimed that the EC's decision to hold separate bypolls for the two Rajya Sabha seats violated constitutional provisions.

Another Congress candidate, Chandrika Chudasama, filed a similar petition after losing to the BJP's Jugalji Thakor.

Pandya has sought a direction to the EC to hold elections to the two seats afresh, through a single ballot.

In his response, Jaishankar contended that since 2009 the EC has always held bypolls for vacant Rajya Sabha seats through separate notifications.