Unheard of things are happening: Supreme Court in Congress 'substitute' candidate plea to contest for Indore Lok Sabha seat

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to allow a plea filed by a man seeking to be the Indian National Congress' subsitute candidate for the Indore Lok Sabha constituency. (Moti Singh v. Election Commission and ors).A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and KV Viswanathan orally observed that the election process was already under way now. However, the Bench said that it would keep the question of law in the election petition would be kept open."EVMs and symbols have already been allocated. Why did you wait for seven days (to move apex court)? Unheard-of things are happening, but you should have come earlier. You could have asked for provisional nomination from High Court and then come to us. Question of law may be raised in election petition, even as an elector. We will keep it open," the Court said..As per a Press Trust of India report, the Madhya Pradesh High Court had on May 4 dismissed an appeal filed by the Congress' substitute candidate, Moti Singh, seeking to be allotted the Congress symbol to contest from the Indore Lok Sabha constituency, after the party's original candidate withdrew from the election to join the BJP.The Congress' nominee, Akshay Kanti Bam, had withdrawn his nomination on April 29. Singh's plea was first rejected by a single-judge of the High Court on April 30, and subsequently by a division bench.This led to the instant appeal before the Supreme Court, where Senior Advocate Ravi Shankar Jandhyala appeared for Singh.Singh's nomination papers had been rejected by the Returning Officer on April 26, on the ground that he was a substitute candidate..The apex court today also refused to set aside an order of the Returning Officer rejecting the nomination of independent candidate Shaik Toufeeq from the Malkajgiri Parliamentary Constituency (Telangana). "Gear up for an election petition now, not SLP. We are not here for these kind of seasonal litigation!" Justice Kant had remarked while dismissing the appeal.