Poll panel does flip-flop on bypolls,Centre asks why

On June 25,the EC wrote to the Ministry of Law and Justice seeking its concurrence to keep the three seats — Mandya and Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka and Avinagadda Assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh — vacant beyond a period of six months as provided for in Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act.

Under this Section,the EC,with the concurrence of the government,may decide to keep a seat vacant beyond six months if the elected candidate would get a term of less than one year or if the EC feels that it is difficult to hold the bye-election within the six-month period.

In the case of the two Lok Sabha seats from Karnataka,the EC’s original position,articulated in its June 25 communication to the Law Ministry,was that bye-elections should not be held since the remaining term of the House was a few days more than one year. For the Avinagadda seat,the gap between the date on which the vacancy arose and the completion of the term of the House was 43 days more than one year,the reason why the EC didn’t wish to hold the bye-election.

“Though technically speaking,for the two LS vacancies from Karnataka and one vacancy in the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh,the remaining term of the Houses was a little more than one year from the date of vacancies,but it is a known fact that in actual practice the general elections to the LS and State Legislative Assemblies are held sufficiently in advance before the normal date of expiration of their respective terms. Viewed from that angle and since less than one year time is now ordinarily left for holding the next general elections,the Commission is of the view that it will not serve any useful purpose to hold elections these seats now,” the EC said.

However,even before the Law Ministry could respond to its communication,on July 19,the EC again wrote to it,saying it had now decided to hold the bye-elections and hence was withdrawing the earlier proposal.

Not amused by the change in stance by the election authority,the Law Ministry has now written to it,asking it “indicate the reasons for withdrawing the proposal”.

The ministry has also asked the EC for its view on whether the term “a Member in relation to a vacancy” refers to the member who had vacated the seat or a member who gets elected in the bye-election.

“We will respond to the Law Ministry letter soon,” said a senior EC functionary.