With the November 22 deadline for constituting the Bihar assembly approaching fast, the Election Commission got a virtual go ahead from the Supreme Court to announce the poll schedule as it refused to pass any order on the plea for a stay on the election process.
A three-judge bench comprising of Chief Justice R C Lahoti, Justice G P Mathur and Justice P K Balasubramanyan framed four important questions on the scope and extent of immunity from court proceedings enjoyed by the governors under Article 361 and referred it to a constitution bench, which would begin its hearing from September 6.
It said the plea for stay on the elections as sought by petitioners - including former National Democratic Alliance legislators, who have challenged the dissolution of the House by Presidential proclamation on May 23 - could be heard by the Constitution Bench.
"The Commission usually issues the press release at least three weeks before the proposed dates of election. The Commission would issue the release within two to three days," S Muralidhar, counsel for the Election Commission said. This would signal commencement of the poll process and coming into force of the model code of conduct.
He also said the elections would be conducted in three or four phases taking into account the number of holidays falling in the months of October and November.
