SINCE DECEASED MP RATAN LAL KATARIA'S REMAINDER TERM WAS MORE THAN A YEAR, HENCE BYPOLL MANDATORY: HEMANT KUMAR
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It has been now three (3) months since Ambala Parliamentary Constituency (P.C.) in the State of Haryana was declared vacant by Lok Sabha Secretariat due to the demise of earlier elected M.P. Ratan Lal Kataria (BJP) on 18 May 2023.
Earlier this month on August 8, when the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced poll schedule for conducting Bye-Elections to seven vacant Assembly Constituencies (A.Cs) in different State Legislative Assemblies across the country viz. 2 in Tripura and 1-1 each in Jharkhand, Kerala, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, it didn't included vacant Ambala P.C. in Haryana.
In view of the omission of Ambala P.C. in the list of recently announced Bypolls, a sort of ambiguity and confusion has prevailed within political and also official/legal circles in the State over if the ECI would indeed conduct a Bye-Election on Ambala P.C. particularly since less than a year is left when the General Elections to 18th Lok Sabha are scheduled in April-May 2024.
Meanwhile, Hemant Kumar, an Advocate at Punjab and Haryana High Court and who is also a registered elector in Ambala City Assembly Segment falling within Ambala P.C. has today once again written to ECI by referring to Section 151A of Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951 (Central Act No. 43 of 1951) which provides that a bye-election to fill casual vacancy including in the House of the People (Lok Sabha) shall be held within a period of six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy.
Hence in respect of the above vacant Ambala P.C. in the State of Haryana, such Bye-Election should be conducted by ECI well before 18 November, 2023. Further, it is also provided in the aforementioned Section 151 A of RP Act, 1951 that Bye-Election shall not be conducted if the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is less than one year.
The Advocate asserted that the tenure of the current 17th Lok Sabha is till 16 June 2024. Hence the remainder of the tenure of earlier elected and now deceased M.P. from Ambala P.C. viz. Late Sh. Ratan Lal Kataria comes out to more than one year i.e. if calculated from the date of his death i.e. 18 May 2023 to 16 June 2024. Therefore, Bye-Election must be conducted by the ECI in case of Ambala P.C. in the State of Haryana.
Hemant in its communication to the ECI has also quoted a relevant precedent. In the year 2018, the ECI also conducted Bye-Elections to fill three casual vacancies in the then 16th Lok Sabha from the State of Karnataka viz. Bellary, Shimoga and Mandya Parliamentary Constituencies(P.Cs) which fell vacant on 18 May 2018, 18 May 2018 and 21 May 2018 respectively.
(SUBHEAD)At that time, the term of the then 16th Lok Sabha was till 3 June 2019 and since the above mentioned three casual vacancies from the State of Karnataka occurred more than one year before the expiration of the term of the then 16th Lok Sabha, hence bye-elections were conducted by the ECI in compliance of Section 151 A of RP Act, 1951. Such Bye-Elections on the above three Lok Sabha seats were however conducted after over five months since these seats fell vacant i.e. in early Nov,2018.
Be that as it may, a similar yardstick ought to be applied in case of the now vacant Ambala P.C. in the State of Haryana which has been lying vacant with effect from 18 May 2023, quips Hemant.
The Advocate also cited the case of two other vacant Lok Sabha seats in the current 17th Lok Sabha viz. Pune P.C. and Chandrapur P.C. in the State of Maharashtra which are also lying vacant with effect from 29 March 2023 and 30 May 2023 respectively due to demise of earlier elected M.P.s viz. Girish Bhalchadra Bapat and Balubhau Narayanrao alias Suresh Dhanorkar respectively from the aforementioned two P.Cs. Hence, Bye-Election(s) ought to be conducted from Pune P.C. and Chandrapur P.C. too on the lines of Ambala P.C.
As far as the case of one more vacant Lok Sabha seat viz. Ghazipur P.C. in the State of Uttar Pradesh is concerned, which has been declared vacant by Lok Sabha Secretariat with effect from 29 April 2023 due to disqualification (read under provisions of Article 102(1)(e) of the
Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the RP Act, 1951) of earlier elected M.P. Afzal Ansari from the date of his conviction by a Court of Law, Hemant asserted that the call for holding Bye-Election on the aforementioned vacant Ghazipur P.C. would also have to be taken by ECI since the Hon'ble Allahabad High Court on 24 July 2023 has declined to stay Ansari's conviction which if it had stayed would have consequently restored his membership of Lok Sabha from Ghazipur P.C. as has happened in the case of Rahul Gandhi, the M.P. from Wayanad P.C. in the State of Kerala whose conviction has been stayed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court on 4 August 2023.
