SC rejects petition to defer GB Nagar polls

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a plea to defer the April 10 polling in Gautam Buddha Nagar Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh in view of the Congress candidate crossing over to the BJP after filing his nomination papers.

“It cannot be notified now. Let’s not tinker with it,” a bench comprising justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and Madan B Lokur said while refusing the plea to re-notify the election date for the Gautam Buddha Nagar Lok Sabha seat.

“At this stage, we are not going to do anything,” the bench said.

After Ramesh Chand Tomar joined the BJP, the dates for nomination and withdrawal were over.

Tomar had filed poll papers as a Congress candidate on March 21 and campaigned till April 3.

Petitioners Mukesh Yadav and Vikrant Singh Kasna from Noida had contended that crossing over of the Congress candidate to the rival party after filing of nomination papers amounts to “corrupt practice”. PTI