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The Bombay High Court on Thursday questioned the Election Commission of India (ECI) asking why it did not conduct a by-election for Pune Lok Sabha constituency within six months since the death of the Member of Parliament (MP) Girish Bapat on March 29, this year.
The court was hearing a plea by a Pune resident against certificate issued by ECI to not hold by-election to the Constituency.
The HC said it prima facie did not concur with the reasoning given by ECI that in case by-elections are held, the returned candidate would hardly have three-four months of work as MP and it would also affect the preparatory activities for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The HC said it will pass an order on Monday, December 11 in case the ECI did not give satisfactory response to justify its stand to not hold bypolls.
A division bench of Justices Gautam S Patel and Kamal R Khata was hearing plea by one Sughosh Joshi from Pune argued through advocates Kushal Mor, Shraddha Swarup and Dayaar Singla, who claimed that as per section 151A of the 1951 law, the vacancy should be filled through by-poll within six months, therefore the same should have been held by September 28, this year.
Joshi claimed that over the past few months, the constituents had no voice in Parliament, especially for issues related to significant delays in several developmental projects in Pune.
Joshi filed a representation with ECI on September 21 raising his grievances, however he availed no response, prompting him to approach the High Court.
The lawyers for petitioner claimed that not conducting by-polls was in violation of the right of the electorate as well as the statutory compliances and reasons given by the ECI were not valid.
He also claimed that since 15 months were left since Bapat’s demise, which is 25 percent of the total tenure (five years) of the MP, the ECI could have conducted the bypoll.
Joshi argued it was manifestly arbitrary that the ECI announced bypolls for seven assembly constituencies on August 8, but did not do so for Pune Loksabha constituency.
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