Kerala bypolls an avoidable risk
The Election Commission’s announcement of its intention to conduct by-elections to two vacant Assembly seats in Kerala has expectedly triggered a debate, with questions being raised about the necessity of holding such an exercise at this time. The EC, while announcing its plans to hold elections to the Bihar Assembly as per schedule despite the Covid-19 crisis, also said 64 vacant Assembly seats across states will go to polls at the same time.
Six of these are in three states—Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Assam (two each)—which will anyway have Assembly elections this coming summer. What this means is that, even if the bypolls are held in November as the EC has announced, the newly elected MLAs will have roughly four months in office before the next election is notified. The ruling LDF in Kerala is opposed to the conduct of bypolls, and wants the opposition to support its demand to cancel the exercise.
While the BJP too is not in favour of elections at the moment, the main opposition UDF has said it’s ready for the bypolls but will back the LDF’s demand if it agrees to put off local body elections as well. The parties have their reasons, which are more about politics than logic and the logistics of conducting elections during the time of pandemic at a huge risk and expense. But the question is, are these byelections necessary? Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act says vacancies in Parliament and state Assemblies are required to be filled up through bypolls within six months if the remainder of the term is one year or more.
The Kuttanad Assembly seat fell vacant in December last year and Chavara in early March. For both, the six-month window has expired. Though the vacancies arose when there was more than a year to go before the term of the Assembly ends, the polls could not be held due to the unusual situation. Now the remainder of the term is too brief to warrant an election. Besides, the rule also has a provision to do away with the process if the situation isn’t conducive. Holding an avoidable election during the time of a raging pandemic is a risk best not taken.