The Election Commission of India (ECI) on the 5th of May, announced to postponed by elections to three Parliamentary and eight Assembly seats due to the second wave of the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19.)
The ECI released a statement regarding the same, which read, “The Commission has reviewed the matter today [Wednesday] and has decided that due to outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 in the country it would not be appropriate to hold byelections till the pandemic situation significantly improves and conditions become conducive to hold these byelections.”
Three Parliamentary constituencies — Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh and Mandi in Himachal Pradesh — are vacant. Kalka and Ellenabad in Haryana, Vallabhnagar in Rajasthan, Sindgi in Karnataka, Rajabala and Mawryngkneng in Meghalaya, Fatehpur in Himachal Pradesh and Badvel in Andhra Pradesh are the vacant Assembly seats.
The statement of the ECI also read, “There are few more vacancies of seats for which reports and notifications are awaited and being confirmed…As per the provisions of Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the vacancies are required to be filled, through byelections within six months from the date of occurrence of vacancy, provided that the remainder of the term in relation to the vacancy is one year or more.”
The ECI said it would take a decision at an “appropriate time in the future” after taking inputs from the States concerned and “assessing the pandemic situation from mandated authorities” like the National Disaster Management Authority and State Disaster Management Authorities.
The ECI’s decision comes days after it concluded the elections to five Assemblies. The decision to halt the upcoming by election came after criticism, that election are one of the major reason behind the second wave of the Novel Coronavirus.
India’s COVID-19 cases are rising rapidly with close to 4.12 lakh regular cases, making it the second worst COVID-19 hit Nation with more than 30 lakh active cases.
