HC notice to political parties on bandhs, rallies

HC notice to political parties on bandhs, rallies
The Hindu

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday ordered issue of notice to eight registered National political parties, two registered state parties and 18 unrecognised parties registered with the Karnataka state election commission, in public interest petitions relating to calling of bandhs and holding of rallies in Bangalore.

Chief Justice Nauvdip Kumar Sodhi and Justice S Abdul Nazeer, constituting a division bench, ordered impleading of political parties as respondents and issue of notices to them.

The petitioners submitted that calling of bandh and holding of rallies are resorted to by the political parties a "number of times" which resulted in great hardship to the public since it would cause traffic jams and "prevented" the people from attending to the work.

The petitioners stated that the Kerala High Court had held that calling of bandh was illegal and the Supreme Court upheld it. They prayed for a direction to the respondent authorities to ensure that no rally is held in Bangalore.

The court had earlier ordered issue of notice to the respondent authorities.