The Supreme Court will defer the hearing of the petition filed against Congress president Sonia Gandhi over sought votes through communal card after the larger constitutional bench will pass the order in the ongoing case on Hindutva.

A seven-bench judge would revisit the issue but they ruled  out the Hindutva judgment on Tuesday. The seven-bench judge made it clear that it would not drag the issue and go into a ‘larger debate’ at this stage.

Rae Bareli resident Ramesh Singh filed a complaint against Gandhi, he claimed Sonia Gandhi appealed votes in the name of religion through her speech.

He alleged Gandhi is guilty of violating Section 123 (3) of the Representation of the Peoples Act, 1951.

So, the apex court said since the two issues are similar it would not be fair to hear the plea at this stage.

SC said on Wednesday that it will not hear the issue on Hindutva as a “way of life not a religion” and  whether communal agenda of a political party can be attributed to a candidate seeking votes or not.

The bench said, “Similar issue is being dealt with by a seven-judge Constitution bench. Let that issue be decided. Then we can take up this matter. We are not passing any orders. If we take a view in this matter, then it will not be appropriate as larger bench is hearing the issue.”

On the plea, it was said that Gandhi did a “corrupt practice” by seeking Muslim votes. The Allahabad High Court alleged that it is needed to be shown that the act was done during the election campaign between the date of her candidature and poll. Also, Sonia Gandhi should have committed the act herself or through her agent with her consent that she sought for votes on the ground of religion.

The high court said that the allegation against Sonia Gandhi was based on news channel report which had no value without any concrete proof.