Jaipur, Nov 10 (PTI) The State Election Commission on Thursday stopped the counting of votes in the Jaipur Greater Municipal Corporation mayor bypoll after Rajasthan High Court quashed the disqualification of ex-mayor Somya Gurjar, stating that there is no vacancy for the post.

Gurjar was disqualified as Jaipur mayor in September after a judicial inquiry found her guilty of misbehaving with commissioner Yagyamitra Singh Deo and preventing him from official work.

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A single-judge bench of the high court set aside the disqualification order on the technical ground that after the judicial inquiry no comments were called from the "delinquent" mayor and further the order for disqualifying her from contesting elections for a period of six years was passed without the approval of the chief minister as contemplated under the rules.

Following the court order, the State Election Commission released an order stating the counsel of petitioner Somya Gurjar has asked to stop the election process.

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"So, the election process for the post of Jaipur Greater Municipal Corporation be stopped immediately. The commission will take further decision on the matter after receiving the court order copy," commission's secretary Chitra Gupta said in the order. The polling started at 10 am and concluded at 2 pm, but the vote counting process was stopped after the court order, the election commission said. Results of the bypoll was supposed to be declared on Thursday. The BJP had nominated Rashmi Saini as its candidate while Hema Singhania was contesting for the Congress in the bypoll, necessitated by the disqualification of Gurjar as mayor. Councillors of the BJP and the Congress were camping at different hotels to prevent horse trading.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)