The controversy involving alleged buying of votes took place during the trust vote of the Congress-led UPA in the last Lok Sabha on July 22, 2008 following the withdrawal of the support by the Left parties in view of the Indo-US nuclear deal. A Bench of Justices Aftab Alam and R M Lodha issued notice to the Centre and asked Delhi police Commissioner to apprise the Court about the progress in the criminal case registered by the Crime Branch.
The court’s order came on a PIL filed by former Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh and others seeking a direction to the Centre to set up a special investigation team to probe the scam. Appearing for the petitioners, senior counsel Rajeev Dhawan submitted that a three-member parliamentary panel headed by senior Congress leader Kishore Chandra Deo had recommended for probing the money trail but nothing has been done by the police.
According to the petition, the incident had showed the lowest ebb in parliamentary democracy.