Delhi High Court sits on a Sunday to hear BJP Minister Narottam Mishra’s appeal

The Delhi High Court today had a special sitting to hear MP Minister and BJP leader Narottam Mishra’s urgent stay application and appeal against the Election Commission’s order disqualifying him as MLA over paid news charges. It is extremely rare for the court to assemble on a Sunday..A Division Bench of Justices S Muralidhar and Pratibha M Singh heard the application at 11. 30 am today..Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Mishra, argued that the alleged act of corruption was committed way back in 2008 and that there has been a great delay on part of the Election Commission in taking action against the minister..However, after some interjections by the Court regarding various judgments cited by Rohatgi, the application for stay was dismissed..On Friday, a Single Judge Bench of Justice Indermeet Kaur had dismissed Mishra’s plea against this very order of the Election Commission. It is against this order that the BJP Minister filed an appeal before the division bench..With today’s order, it has become certain that the BJP leader will not be able to cast his vote in the Presidential Elections scheduled for tomorrow..The appeal against the single judge’s order will be heard by a regular bench in August..Recently, the Supreme Court held a special sitting on Sunday to hear a property dispute between members of the Singhania family. The case was heard by a Bench of Justices Dipak Misra and AM Khanwilkar with a slew of Senior Advocates appearing in the matter.