Ambala LS seat up for a contest before 2024 poll

The election commission (EC) will have to hold the bypoll by November 18 for Ambala, a Lok Sabha constituency reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates

The demise of BJP MP from Ambala Lok Sabha seat Rattan Lal Kataria on Thursday opened up the Parliamentary constituency for a byelection. The election commission (EC) will have to hold the bypoll by November 18 for Ambala, a Lok Sabha constituency reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.

Haryana minister Anil Vij at the cremation of BJP MP Rattan Lal Kataria at a cremation ground in Manimajra on Thursday. (Sant Arora/HT)

At present, three more Lok Sabha seats — Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh, Pune in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala — are vacant. Ghazipur and Wayanad fell vacant due to disqualification of Afzal Ansari (BSP) and Rahul Gandhi (Congress) following their conviction by a court. The Pune seat fell vacant due to the demise of BJP MP Girish Bapat.

Bypoll shall be held within 6 months of vacancy

As per Section 151-A of the Representation of People Act, a byelection for filling a vacancy to the Lok Sabha shall be held within a period of six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy, if the remainder of the term of the MP is not less than a year. Kataria’s term as an MP was coterminous with the term of the present Lok Sabha, which ends on June 16, 2024. The EC, however, can sidestep the statutory requirement of holding the bypoll within six months if the commission in consultation with the Central government certifies that it is difficult to hold the bypoll within the said period.

The Ambala Lok Sabha bypoll will be a sort of a semi-final for the ruling BJP and the Opposition, the Congress, the INLD and the AAP, before the EC rings the bell for the 2024 general elections to the Lok Sabha sometime in March 2024. The Lok Sabha bypoll will also give an insight into the future of BJPs alliance with Dushyant Chautala’s Jannayak Janta Party (JJP).

The BJP had in 2019 won the Ambala Parliamentary seat emphatically by over 3.42 lakh votes riding the Modi wave. In fact, the BJP won all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana on their own. However, since the BJP is likely to face a strong anti-incumbency sentiment in the state, being in power for close to nine years, the Lok Sabha bypoll will be a litmus test for the popularity of the ruling combine as well chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The bypoll will also pose a challenge to the Congress, under the leadership of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

“Ambala being a reserved constituency will need some deft political handling. Former state Congress chief Kumari Selja, who twice got elected from this seat, is at odds with Hooda. So, the Congress’ strategy would be really interesting,’’ said a Haryana watcher. The JJP did not contest the Ambala seat in 2019 as it was handed over to its then ally, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

Since 2019, three bypolls, all to elect members of legislative assembly (MLA), have taken place in Haryana. The Congress won the Baroda assembly bypoll, the INLD won the Ellenabad bypoll and the BJP-JJP won the Adampur bypoll.