A three-judge bench comprising Justice S P Bharucha, Justice V N Khare and Justice R C Lahoti after briefly hearing counsel for Election Commission Kapil Sibal stayed further proceedings before the Lucknow bench of the high court till November five.

The high court had issued notice to the Election Commission on a petition filed by a MLC alleging that the ban on ministerial tours was illegal as the model code of conduct would come into force only from the date of notification and not from the announcement of the poll schedule.

Sibal contended that the Punjab and Haryana High Court had already decided that the model code of conduct comes into force from the announcement of the date of polls and not from the date of election notification.

He said though Union of India has appealedagainst the order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the apex court had not given any stay on the matter.

UP Chief Minister had said his Government would challenge in the Supreme Court the EC's directive banning official tours of state ministers during polls.