Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Wednesday, while announcing the dates for the Karnataka Assembly elections, said that the court has given 30-day time to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to approach a higher court after he was convicted in a criminal defamation case, and that the commission will wait before announcing bypolls in the Wayanad parliamentary constituency. “We have six months’ time to hold a by-election after a seat falls vacant. The trial court has given 30-day time for judicial remedy. So, we will wait,” Kumar said in a presser here. Rahul Gandhi was disqualified as MP from Lok Sabha on March 24 following his conviction by the Surat court in a criminal defamation case for the ‘Modi surname’ remark.
