Ahead of Prez poll, EC to fill up vacancies in LS, assemblies
State Times News
New Delhi: Bypolls to three Lok Sabha and 12 Assembly seats will be held soon, months ahead of the election for the President’s office due later this year to fill up vacancies in the electoral college.
The term of President Pranab Mukherjee is coming to an end on July 24.
An official in the Election Commission said the schedule of the bypolls will be announced in the next couple of days and all vacant seats will be filled up by end of April.
The vacant Lok Sabha seats are Anantnag and Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and Malappuram in Kerala. While Amritsar seat in Punjab is also vacant, the bypoll was held along with the Punjab Assembly polls on February 4.
STATE TIMES correspondent adds that by-polls to Anantnag Parliamentary Constituency has become necessary due to election of the incumbent Mehbooba Mufti to Legislative Assembly after being appointed as Chief Minister, nearly three months after the political stalemate following the death of her father and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
The Srinagar Lok Sabha seat became available after PDP’s Tariq Hameed Karra resigned in protest against, what he stated, inept handling of the 2016 summer unrest by Mehbooba Mufti led PDP-BJP government. Karra has joined the Congress.
The electoral college which elects the President through the system of proportional representation, comprises MPs and members of state legislative assemblies. A total of 4896 voters — 4120 MLAs and 776 elected MPs — are eligible to cast their ballot.
While the Lok Sabha Speaker, an elected member, can vote, the two nominated members in the Lower House from the Anglo-Indian community cannot. 12 nominated in Rajya Sabha are also ineligible.
In December last, the poll panel had written to the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha secretariats seeking details of MPs and vacant seats. It had also sought similar details from the state assemblies.
With the inputs now available with the poll watchdog, it has decided to fill up the vacancies.
In 2012, the election for the President’s office was announced on June 12 and held on July 19. The term of Mukherjee as the President had commenced on July 25.
This time, the Lok Sabha secretary general will be the returning officer. Last time, it was the secretary general of Rajya Sabha.
Anantnag and Srinagar Lok Sabha seat by-polls are very crucial for ruling PDP headed by Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti as both seats were earlier held by the party. While Anantnag seat was vacated by Mehbooba Mufti herself in June 2016 after being elected as MLA from Anantnag Assembly seat after she became the Chief Minister on April 1, 2016, Srinagar seat was vacated by PDP MP Tariq Hamid Karra after he quit the party, followed by his resignation from Lok Sabha seat.
Anantnag by-poll was to be conducted by the Election Commission in December 2016 as entire process was required to be completed before January 3, 2016, by-poll to Srinagar seat has to be held before middle of May as Karra’s resignation was accepted by Speaker Sumitra Mahajan on November 15. By-poll for Lok Sabha seat had to be conducted within six months.
As Anantnag by-poll was to be deferred beyond six months period, the Election Commission had got the Ordinance issues from the Union Law Ministry to use special powers to defer by-poll beyond six months.
Sources said the Government has proposed that by-elections to both Anantnag and Srinagar Lok Sabha seats could be held once the Panchayat election process is completed.
The Government has decided to hold Panchayat elections in State in March-April for which the process has already been set into motion. A formal announcement of the polls was likely to be made after the conclusion of budget session of the Legislature on February 7.
