Withdrawal of pleas to vote by two UP MLAs make Rajya Sabha polls interesting

Lucknow: In a rather inexplicable development which could well impact the Rajya Sabha election to ten seats from Uttar Pradesh , two incarcerated legislators Mukhtar Ansari and Hari Om on Thursday withdrew from the High Court their petitions seeking permission to vote.

A division bench comprised of Justice Prashant Kumar and Justice Rajan Roy dismissed the petitions as not pressed after their Counsel S C Mishra submitted to the bench that the two MLAs wanted to withdraw the petitions. They had filed the petitions on Wednesday seeking permission to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections.

The Court had put up the petitions for Thursday when they were withdrawn. The Counsel for the petitioners ,however, did not assign any reason behind the move.

It may be recalled that Mafi-turned MLA Mukhtar Ansari in lodged in Banda while Samajwadi Party MLA Hari Om Yadav is in Firozabad jail. The Election Commission had ,earlier, said it would not have any objection to their voting if the Court allowed them to vote.