<span style="font-size: 13.3333px;">The Supreme Court Monday stayed the Election Commission's notification declaring Gujarat's Talala assembly constituency seat as vacant and announcing the by-poll there along with the Lok Sabha elections.</span><br />''<br />''<br />''A bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi also issued a notice to the poll panel on a plea by former Congress MLA BD Barad who had moved the apex court against the Gujarat High Court's March 27th verdict dismissing his plea against the EC's notification.<br />''<br />''<br />''The high court had also dismissed Barad's challenge to the Assembly Speaker's March 5 decision disqualifying him as an MLA following his conviction in a case for an offence under section 379 (punishment for theft) of the Indian Penal Code.<br />''<br />''<br />''<span style="color: #222222;">The apex court expressed displeasure as to how the EC had notified the Talala assembly seat as vacant and announced the by-poll there when Barad's conviction was stayed by a Sessions court on March 7th.</span><br />