The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Madhya Pradesh High Court order that had imposed several restrictions on physical gathering by political parties during campaigning ahead of bypolls to 28 seats on November 3 in view of the pandemic.

A bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar passed the order on an appeal by the Election Commission and separate petitions by BJP leaders Pradyumn Singh Tomar and Munnalal Goyal challenging the high court’s October 20 judgment.

The EC had contended that under Article 329 it alone had the powers to enforce restrictions on poll-related activities.

The apex court bench told senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi appearing for EC that while the order of the high court was being stayed, the poll panel must “consider” the issues referred to by the high court on social distance.

“We are not in any manner expressing anything with regard to the merits of the case or any process to be adopted by the Election Commission in this regard,” Justice Khanwilikar said.

The BJP leaders, through senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi and advocate Astha Sharma, told the apex court that the restrictions impinged on the fundamental rights of the candidates to carry out campaigning.

However, the court said it would not deal with the issue at this juncture and instead suggested that the candidates could make their representations to the Election Commission on their grievances.