The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the process for the Rajya Sabha biennial and by-elections for 65 seats.
It also made the Election Commission a party to a petition filed by former Rajya Sabha member Kuldeep Nayar challenging recent amendments to the election procedure.
The EC should take no further steps for holding of the polls till June 14, the court said.
A bench comprising Justice Ruma Pal and Justice B N Agrawal, while issuing notice to the chief election commissioner, said, "Meanwhile, if the notification regarding the poll is not already issued, then it shall not be published in the gazette and if it is published in the gazette it shall not be given effect to."
Nayar had challenged a recent amendment to the Representation of Peoples Act dispensing with the domicile requirement for candidates contesting Rajya Sabha elections.
He also challenged the amended Section 3 of the act, which introduces open ballot system for the elections.
The elections, to be held on June 21, will cover 65 Rajya Sabha seats, including five that fell vacant after the members either resigned or were elected to the Lok Sabha.
The Upper House members who have been elected to the Lower House are Ranjan Singh and Laloo Prasad Yadav (Bihar), Kailashchandra (Madhya Pradesh) and Pranab Mukherjee (West Bengal). Manmohan Samal (Orissa) has resigned.
Several members, including deputy chairperson Najma Heptulla, Bharatiya Janata Party president M Venkaiah Naidu and Congress leader and Union minister Oscar Fernandes, have also retired.
The elections will cover 14 states with a maximum of 11 members retiring from Uttar Pradesh followed by six each from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, five from Bihar and four each from Karnataka and Rajasthan.
The exercise includes three by-polls necessitated by the death of K M Khan (AP), Gurcharan Singh (Punjab) and Abrar Ahmed (Rajasthan).
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