Supreme Court Stayed the Election Commission's Order's On MP's minister Narottam Mishra

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The Supreme Court on Friday granted a stay on the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision to declare null and void the election of Madhya Pradesh's Minister for Water Resources, Public Relations and Legislative Affairs, Narottam Mishra.

 The Supreme Court has asked the Delhi High Court to hear the matter and take a decision within two weeks. The decision comes as a huge relief for Narottam Mishra who was not allowed to vote in the Presidential election and brings clarity on whether Mishra is still a minister or not. 

Though the ECI order on June 23 had set aside Mishra's election and debarred him from contesting for 3 years, Mishra continued to work as a minister using privileges assigned to office holders.

 Those in government, especially the civil services had gone through a peculiar situation when the ECI order made it amply clear that Narottam Mishra was not an MLA and hence not a minister but files were being marked to him nonetheless.

  The ECI decision came after a 2009 petition by Rajendra Bharti, the BSP candidate from Dabra who had contested the 2008 assembly elections against Narottam Mishra, alleging misreporting of election expenses by Mishra, especially those pertaining to paid news.

 Mishra did not attend the two week monsoon session of the assembly that concluded on Wednesday, avoiding a showdown with opposition MLAs who had warned against it. In the last one month or so, Mishra's case has moved from one high court to the Supreme Court to be sent back to another high court, again to the Supreme Court and now back to a high court.

Madhya Pradesh Chief minister Shivraj Singh while reacting to the Supreme Court directive to the Delhi High Court said, "There was nothing in the matter, there is still nothing in it. we respect the courts and we will respect what the courts will say."

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