The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Maharahstra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan on a petition challenging his recent election to the state Legislative Council.
Mr Chavan, who was sent to Maharasthra to replace Ashok Chavan in the wake of Adarsh scam, got entry to the Upper House of the state to meet the mandatory constitutional requirement of getting elected to either house of the state legislature within six months.
A bench of Justices J.M. Panchal and H.L. Gokhale issued notice to Mr Chavan on a petition by Anil Dattatray Parab, who claimed that constitutional provisions as well as election laws had been violated in the election of the CM to the Maharashtra Legislative Council.
The main contention of Mr Parab was that the election of Mr Chavan was allowed by Bombay high court even when his petition challenging the election of 10 members to the Council was pending before the apex court, which amounted overriding the order of the top court, which had accepted the petition for hearing at mentioning stage.
The HC had allowed the Election Commission to fill up of a “casual vacancy”.