THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The byelections in the Kuttanad and Chavara assembly constituencies will be held in November, though the elected members would get barely four months to work for their respective constituencies. The election notification for the assembly polls is expected to be issued in March 2021. The Election Commission of India (ECI) may have found it convenient to hold the by-elections to all 64 vacant assembly seats across the country and one parliament seat along with the assembly polls in Bihar, but the decision has not gone down well with all stakeholders.
BJP state president K Surendran, while asserting that the NDA was ready to face the polls, questioned the logic behind the decision. “What’s the logic of holding a byelection for a four-month term? There should be at least a six-month term for a legislator to do some development work in his constituency,” Surendran told TNIE.
While LDF convener A Vijayaraghavan exuded confidence that the ruling front would retain both Kuttanad and Chavara seats, CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishan pointed out the anomaly of having a four-month term for the new legislators. The UDF, while maintaining that the political atmosphere was very conducive to the Congress-led alliance, chose to put the ball in the poll panel’s court.
‘Exact date of bypolls will be announced soon’
“The timing of the election is after all the discretion of the Election Commission,” said UDF convener Benny Behanan.The poll panel overlooked the recommendations of the state’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Teeka Ram Meena and state government against conducting the bypolls as Covid cases are going up.With the ECI making its stance clear, the CEO said the state election machinery was all geared up for the bypolls.
“We are all set to conduct the election in strict adherence to the guidelines issued by the Election Commission on holding polls in the midst of the Covid pandemic,” Meena told TNIE.The CEO said the exact date of the bypolls would be announced soon. “Since the assembly elections in Bihar have to be completed before November 29, we can expect the election schedule to be before that date,” he added.
While Kuttanad seat fell vacant after the death of Thomas Chandy last December, Chavara seat was vacated following the demise of N Vijayan Pillai in March this year. The bypoll was necessitated in both seats as more than a year was left for the term of the present legislative assembly to expire from the date of the demise of the two legislators.“Though bypoll should be held within six months of a seat falling vacant, the provision could be waived in the case of Kuttanad and Chavara as the EC, in consultation with the central government, had certified that it was difficult to hold the byelections within the six-month period,” said an official with the election department.
Bypolls to be bunched with Bihar elections
New Delhi: While the forthcoming Bihar Assembly elections will be held on schedule, by-elections to one Parliamentary and 64 Assembly constituencies spread across 15 states will be bunched along with it, the Election Commission of India said on Friday