Supreme Court barred from announcing the results of the Bihar legislative council by-election for the seat that was previously held by expelled RJD leader Sunil Kumar Singh. The ruling came on Wednesday.
Singh was expelled from the Bihar legislative council on July 26 last year for unruly behaviour in the House. Singh, who is considered close to RJD supremo Lalu Prasad and his family, was charged for sloganeering against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar during a heated exchange in the House on February 13, 2024.
The ethics committee report said while Sohaib expressed regret for his actions during the inquiry, Singh remained defiant.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh was informed by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Singh, that the by-poll result was likely to be announced on January 16 for the seat as the election was unopposed. The bench said since it was already hearing the arguments on the matter, no results for the seat should be declared in the meantime.
Singhvi said the court was hearing his plea against the expulsion since August 2024, and if tomorrow the court allowed the petition, it would be a peculiar situation with there being two candidates for a single seat.
The bench said it would on January 16 hear the response of the state legislative council and the ethics committee and others, following which it would reserve its judgement on the issue.
In 2024, the motion for Singh's expulsion was passed by voice vote, a day after the ethics committee submitted its report to acting chairman Awadhesh Narain Singh.
Singh was also charged for "insulting the chief minister by mimicking his body language" and questioning the competence of the members of the ethics committee after appearing before it.
In addition to Singh's expulsion, another RJD MLC, Mohd Qari Sohaib, also engaged in disruptive behaviour on the same day and faced suspension for two days.
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