Will act in line with Kerala High Court order suspending sentence of Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal: ECI to Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of a plea by former Lakshadweep Member of Parliament (MP) Mohammed Faizal challenging an Election Commission of India (ECI) notification for by-elections to fill his seat in view of his conviction in an attempt to murder case. (Mohammed Faizal PP v. Election Commission of India and anr).The plea was disposed of after the ECI assured the Bench of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna that it would only act as per law and keep in mind that the Kerala High Court has now suspended the trial court order convicting the MP until the disposal of his appeal. "Without going into the allegations of mala fide and arbitrariness and without pronouncing on any of these allegations, we dispose of the writ petition recording the submission of the Election Commission of India that in the light of the development, viz., the suspension of the conviction inter alia ordered by the High Court of Kerala, action will be taken in accordance with law," the Court's order stated. .Appearing for the ECI today, Senior Advocate Maninder Singh took strong exception to allegations made in Faizal's petition that the poll body had acted in a malafide manner. He further questioned how a petition under Article 32 of the Constitution could be filed in the matter."This plea under 32 does not survive, it is for Commission to take a call...EC will abide by orders passed, but how are we acting malafide? Why should this Court entertain a convict sentenced to over 10 years? Kindly see the press note. These are various bye-elections due," Singh argued before the Court.Appearing for Faizal, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal highlighted that the notification intimating the conduct of fresh polls was issued immediately after the trial court's order of conviction, and without waiting to see if any appeal was filed in the matter."So quickly they did it," he told the Court..Whereas Singh replied that press releases of such information were common and there was nothing to indicate that the action was malafide, Justice Nagarathna pointed out that the poll body could have checked if any appeal was filed before the notification issue."Nothing prevented you, in this information age, to find out if any appeal was filed or not," the judge said."The alacrity with which they went..." Sibal remarked.Justice Joseph, meanwhile, questioned what relief remained to be granted since the High Court has now suspended the trial court's order of conviction.The Court eventually disposed of the matter after recording the ECI's assurance that it will bear in mind the High Court's order of stay..Faizal's petition had challenged the ECI announcement to hold by-elections in his constituency after he was disqualified as an MP following his conviction in an attempt to murder case by a trial court.The Kerala High Court on Wednesday suspended the conviction imposed by a trial court on the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader till disposal of his appeal.The petition before the top court filed on Thursday sought to quash the ECI's press note dated January 18, which released the schedule for by-elections to fill Faizal's seat.Earlier this month, a Kavaratti Sessions Court had convicted four persons, including Faizal. They were all sentenced to undergo 10 years rigorous imprisonment and directed pay a fine of ₹1 lakh each for attempting to murder Padanath Salih, the son-in-law of former Union Minister PM Sayeed, in relation to a political controversy during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.The plea before the top court had contended that only a day after Faizal petitioned the Kerala High Court challenging his conviction in the attempt to murder case, the Secretary General of the Lok Sabha declared that he was disqualified from his membership of the house consequent to his conviction.A grievance was raised that the ECI was now proposing to fill the petitioner’s seat without awaiting the appeal or stay application’s outcome.The press note went against settled law that an MP’s disqualification under the Representation of People Act ceases to operate if the conviction is stayed by an appellate court, Faizal had submitted in his plea..[Read Supreme Court order]