Hyderabad:  A two-judge bench of the High Court at Hyderabad on Tuesday refused to take on file a petition challenging the elections held to the Graduates constituency to the Legislative Council of Telangana. The bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyothi Sengupta and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar heard an urgent motion filed by one of the contestants S Srisailam. The petitioner contended that the action of the authorities in permitting a non-graduate to contest for the Graduate Constituency vitiated the entire electoral process.

He said that this was an infringement of the provisions of the Constitution and the Representation of People’s Act. Avinash Desai appearing for the Election Commission pointed out that the law did not require a graduate to contest the election as such to make such a prescription would be illegal. He also argued that the writ petition was not maintainable and his remedy lies elsewhere. The bench left it open to the petitioner to approach the appropriate forum and made clear that all steps will be subject to appropriate orders by appropriate authorities.