Polling for the Hamirpur assembly by-election on Monday coincided with the start of nominations for by-elections to 11 assembly seats of the state.
Voting for 11 assembly seats will take place on October 21.
The by-election schedule for another assembly seat, Tundla, may be announced in the coming weeks in Uttar Pradesh.
The Uttar Pradesh assembly has 13 vacancies. The by-elections to these seats will now be completed in three phases. The Hamirpur assembly seat fell vacant after the disqualification of BJP member Ashok Singh Chandel. The by-election to 11 assembly seats was caused by the election of sitting MLAs to the Lok Sabha in May.
The by-election to 13th seat was caused by the resignation of BJP MLA from Ghosi, Phagu Chauhan, following his appointment as the Bihar governor. Chauhan resigned on July 25, 2019.
Why did the Election Commission of India not declare the by-elections to all the 13 seats together? Although Chandel was disqualified on July 10, 2019, his disqualification was effective from April 19, 2019 in view of a Supreme Court order.
The by-election to any seat has to be held within six months from the date on which the seat falls vacant.
{{/usCountry}}The by-election to any seat has to be held within six months from the date on which the seat falls vacant.
{{/usCountry}}Why did the ECI declare the by-election to the Hamirpur seat separately and not announce dates for the by-election to the Tundla assembly seat?
Chief electoral officer, UP, Ajay Shukla said, “The Hamirpur seat was declared vacant well before the 11 other assembly seats. A petition challenging the election of SP Singh Baghel (from Tundla) is pending. The ECI, therefore, announced separate dates for Hamirpur and did not announce a programme for the by-election to the Tundla seat,” said Shukla.
The by-elections to 13 assembly seats are being held on separate dates when there is a debate on the ‘one nation, one election’ issue. As Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the issue a few years ago, it has become a point of discussion in political circles.
The Law Commission of India too dwelt on the issue and submitted a draft report to the union government on August 30, 2018.
Although the commission observed that holding simultaneous elections would be ideal as well as desirable, it suggested further discussions and examination of the issue.
“In view of complexity of the issues involved, it is desirable to have further discussions and examination on the matter, involving all the stake holders, once again, before making final recommendations to the government. Therefore, with an intention to initiate a healthy and sustainable debate on the issue, the commission places its draft report titled ‘Simultaneous elections in the public domain.’
In its draft report, the commission had also made observations on the issue of the by-elections being held at frequent intervals. “Holding the by-election at various intervals also causes avoidable expenditure. Therefore, the commission recommends that all the by-elections due in one calendar year be conducted together during such part of the year, which is conducive to all the legislatures involved and or the House of the People. To achieve this, the relevant provisions of the Act, 1951 be amended,” the commission said in its draft report.