NEW DELHI, 29 October— The Supreme Court held yesterday that the Election Commission (EC) had the prerogative to decide poll dates and that a state assembly need not meet within six months of its last session if it was dissolved prematurely.
"The Election Commission is empowered to fix the schedule of elections and this power is not subject to any law," the court maintained.
A five-judge bench comprising Chief Justice B.N. Kirpal and judges V.N. Khare, K.G. Balakrishnan, Ashok Bhan and Arijit Pasayat were ruling on the presidential reference on the Gujarat polls.
The ruling came on the day the commission announced that the Gujarat polls would be held Dec. 12.
The bench ruled that articles 174 and 324 of the constitution were independent of each other and could not be read in tandem.
Article 174 lays down that assembly sessions have to be held not later than six months of each other. Article 324 deals with the power of the EC to conduct polls.
"Article 174 and Article 324 operate upon different planes and neither of them is subject to the other," the court held, rejecting the commission’s arguments that article 174 will yield to article 324 in matters of conducting elections.
At the same time, the court held that the six-month rule would not apply in case of an assembly that had been dissolved before its term expired.
The Gujarat government of Chief Minister Narendra Modi had recommended the dissolution of the state assembly in June and had urged the commission to held fresh polls before Oct. 3, since the last session of the assembly had been held on April 3.
