A vacation bench of the Supreme Court dismissed Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan's Article 32 challenge to the rejection of her Rajya Sabha nomination. The Court held that Article 329(b) insulates an ongoing election from writ intervention — however glaring the alleged illegality, the only remedy lies in an election petition once the poll is over.
On 2 December 1977, a five-judge Constitution Bench held that Article 324 vests the Election Commission of India with plenary and residuary powers wherever statute or rules are silent, but that those powers must be exercised consistently with natural justice and on reasons stated when the order is made — not on reasons supplied later by affidavit. The judgment also reaffirmed that Article 329(b) bars judicial interference with the election process between notification and declaration, leaving the election petition as the sole post-result remedy.