New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) Saturday announced by-elections in 26 assembly constituencies, including in Haryana’s Karnal, Maharashtra’s Akola West, and Jharkhand’s Gandey. Assembly elections in all three states are scheduled between October and December this year after the Lok Sabha elections.
The ECI also announced by-elections in Himachal Pradesh in six assembly seats from which six rebel Congress MLAs face disqualification. The matter of disqualification is still pending before the Supreme Court, and the next hearing is on Monday.
The announcements came while the ECI declared the dates for the Lok Sabha elections between April and June.
The ECI’s promptness in declaring the by-elections in Himachal Pradesh after the MLAs’ disqualification last month and in Haryana’s Karnal three days after former CM Manohar Lal Khattar left the seat vacant has raised several eyebrows because of contradictory decisions in similar cases.
The ECI has been delaying by-elections in the four Lok Sabha seats of Pune, Ambala, Ghazipur, and Chandrapur since the seats fell vacant more than a year ago. The ECI even moved the Supreme Court to stay a Bombay High Court direction to hold the Pune by-elections, citing preoccupation with the Lok Sabha election preparations and too little time for an MP to serve.
The by-polls in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, and Himachal Pradesh are scheduled for 26 April, 25 May, 20 May, and 1 June, respectively.
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Himachal Pradesh
Himachal Pradesh Assembly Speaker Rakesh Pathania on 29 February disqualified six rebel Congress MLAs within 18 hours of their defying the Congress whip to be present in the assembly and vote in favour of the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu-led state government during the cut motion and budget. The move came after the MLAs — Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma, and Devinder Kumar Bhutto — cross-voted during the February Rajya Sabha polls.
The six MLAs have challenged their disqualification in the SC, saying the speaker did not give them sufficient time to respond. The apex court has fixed the hearing for Monday, but without waiting for its decision, the ECI has announced the schedule for the by-elections with promptness not seen in other cases.
Ruling party candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost in February Rajya Sabha elections due to the cross-voting by the six rebel MLAs. The state government barely survived by disqualifying the MLAs as house strength came down from 68 to 62 and the majority from 40 to 34.
The tally of BJP and Independent MLAs is at 28 now.
After the announcement of the by-elections, a jubilant BJP said it was a matter of time before a BJP government returned to the state.
Speaking to media persons, former chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said, “The BJP will form the (state) government by winning the by-elections on the six seats in Himachal Pradesh. The BJP, in June, will form governments in both the Centre and the state.”
A Himachal Pradesh BJP general secretary, who wished to not be named, said, “In Himachal Pradesh, the Congress government has lost the majority and survived by suspending BJP MLAs in the assembly and disqualifying Congress MLAs.”
Holding an early bypoll will benefit the BJP in more ways than one. The party knows that only a little push is required to unseat the Congress government in the state. Holding the bypolls with the Lok Sabha polls increases the BJP’s chances of winning the six assembly seats. If the party wins these seats, its enhanced numerical strength will be enough to dethrone the state government in June.
“If the BJP wins the six seats in the bypolls, both the Congress and the BJP will have 34 MLAs, and it will be difficult for the Congress to survive,” said the BJP general secretary.
The BJP will also gain if the court rejects the speaker’s decision. The BJP will then be back in the game with the help of the six rebel Congress MLAs to dethrone the Sukhu-led government.
However, former Lok Sabha secretary general P.D. Thankappan Achary said, “Technically, the ECI can conduct by-elections in Himachal Pradesh, but imagine if the court stays the speaker’s decision. Things will be complicated and embarrassing. Since the court is hearing the matter, the ECI should have waited for the outcome of the hearing.”
Haryana
In Haryana, too, the ECI has swiftly announced by-elections. The Karnal assembly seat fell vacant after Nayab Singh Sani took over as CM after the March 12 resignation of Manohar Lal Khattar. Only three days later, the ECI announced the Karnal by-elections even though it has resisted by-elections in other cases where assembly elections were coming up in less than a year. The Haryana assembly election is due in October this year.
A BJP Haryana senior leader, who wished to not be named, said the new CM has to be a state assembly member and Khattar resigned hastily, so the Karnal by-polls could happen within the stipulated six-month period during the Lok Sabha polls. The BJP leader said the party did not want to take any risks in this case after Tirath Singh Rawat was made the chief minister in Uttarakhand but had to resign due to uncertainty over his election to the state assembly within six months.
Maharashtra
Two Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra — Pune and Chandrapur — fell vacant between March and May 2023. The ECI delayed the by-polls there, and during a hearing on the matter in the HC, the ECI filed an affidavit saying the new MPs would not have enough time to serve. But now, it has decided to hold by-elections in Haryana’s Karnal and Maharashtra’s Akola West even though the terms of the new MLAs will end in October.
According to Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, by-elections should happen within six months of vacancies. But, an exemption is allowed when the term of the assembly or parliament is less than one year. Section 151A(b) also allows an exemption if there is consultation between the ECI and the Centre, certifying difficulty to hold by-elections within six months.
In the case of the Pune Lok Sabha seat, which fell vacant due to the death of BJP MP Girish Bapat in March 2023, when the ECI did not announce the by-poll, its decision faced a challenge in the high court, which directed the Pune Lok Sabha bypoll within six months —by 23 September, 2023. The ECI, however, made several arguments to evade the bypoll. The new candidate would get hardly three to four months to work as MP, the ECI said. It also cited “difficulty in conducting bypolls as its whole machinery was busy preparing for the Lok Sabha election of 2024″.
The HC found several inconsistencies in the arguments by the ECI, which has held several polls since the Pune seat fell vacant. The court then ordered by-elections in Pune, but the ECI got a stay order from the Supreme Court in January 2024.
Maharashtra’s Chandrapur seat fell vacant on 30 May after the Congress MP Suresh ‘Balu’ Dhanorkar died, but the ECI did not hold by-elections there. It also did not hold bypolls in Haryana’s Ambala seat after BJP MP Rattan lal Kataria died and Uttar Pradesh’s Ghazipur seat fell vacant after the disqualification of BSP’s Afzal Ansari. Too little time for the MPs to serve and administrative preoccupation were also cited in these cases.
Jharkhand
The ECI Saturday also announced by-polls for Jharkhand’s Gandey seat, which fell vacant after Jharkhand Mukti Morcha MLA Sarfaraz Ahmad resigned to make way for Kalpana Soren.
JMM later changed its mind about taking Kalpana’s name as his replacement as the party suspected the ECI would not hold by-elections for her selection.
Instead, JMM opted for Champai Soren, Jharkhand assembly sitting MLA, who will complete his tenure in January 2025. The ECI will hold the state elections in Jharkhand around December.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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