Thiruvananthapuram : An all-party meeting held today decided to urge the Central Election Commission to put on hold, the bypolls slated for Kuttanad and Chavara in November, said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Friday. Also given the pandemic, it shall be requested of the State Election Commission to delay local self elections for some time though not for too long, CM added.
The tenure of Kerala’s 14th Legislative Assembly comes to an end in May of 20021. It is likely that Assembly will be held in April given that, the elections of 2011 and 2016 were both conducted in April. If that were to happen, the Model /Code of Conduct will come into being on the 10th of March 2020. And, if bypolls for Kuttanad and Chavara be held at their scheduled time of mid-November, the winning candidate will have just 3 full months(December, January, February) to serve his constituency. When compared to the huge costs and other inputs required for the polls, the resultant stint would be a minuscule one.
It would not be impossible for an elected candidate to carry out any effective work for his electors in a brief period of 3 or 3 and half months. Besides, the Representation of People Act 1951 stipulates that a vacancy be filled within a timeframe of 6 months while former Kuttanad MLA, Hon. Thomas Chandy passed away in December of 2019 and Chavara seat fell vacant on March 3rd early this year - both dates exceeding their 6 month limit in November.
Also, the state is grappling the covid pandemic with growing cases of infections and controlling the spread, taking much of the state’s resources. Thus, the delegates at all-party meeting today, debated on whether it was worth deviating resources into elections at a time like this, esecially where the seats contested carry just a 3-month validity.
Subsequently, in one voice, members at the meeting said it would be ideal to convince the Election Commission that bypolls of Kuttanad and Chavara would be an unnecessary exercise and that the vacant seats there may rather be filled during Assembly Elections that are due in six months from now anyway. The decision was arrived based upon factors ranging from covid situation now to other reasonable factors in the polls’ disfavor.
The imminent local self-governing body elections are an all-together different story. The executive committees of various panchayats, municipalities and corporations have their term ending in November 2020 and new committees have to come to power. Constitution mandates and underscores that transition. Besides, unlike those in Kuttanad and Chavara, the tenure of these elected committees stand valid for the next five years. Therefore elections at local self bodies cannot be compared to those of Kuttanad and Chavara. Electing people’s representative for a brief preiof of three months cannot not compare with the constitutional responsibility of conducting elections for managing committees with 5-year validity, the meeting observed.
In the month of July, the average for daily-tally of covid cases stood at 618. In August that figure rose to to 1,672 and in September up to the 9th , the average daily tally figures at 2,281. There were 3,349 new infections recorded yesterday. The covid pandemic overhangs the state as a major problem.
One might however wonder how covid deterrents don’t apply to local self body elections. While that doubt is reasonable, the fact is that it is constitutionally mandatory that local self body elections be conducted during the stipulated period without regard to any condition that may be prevalent. Even so, we shall try to push dates for a brief while, to the extent possible within the timeframe mandated, said CM.
Local body elections become mandatory under articles 243(e) and 243(u) of the constitution owing to which their postponement beyond a certain limit is rendered impossible. At the meeting, several parties however expressed wariness at the prospect of elections amid rising pandemic and pointed out hardships involved in the exercise. Following genteral agreement, it was thus decided to approach the state election commission and request for delaying the local self elections at least for some time. All the same, the government and majority delegates agreed that such postponement cannot be indefinite.
Elections are pillars of democracy. However, electing a people’s representative who will barely have the time to work for his people, especially one that is brief as three-month stint, would culminate in burdening the state exchequer over an avoidable exercise. Also, it would beat the very essence of representation for the people. The decisions on elections was arrived at the meeting taking all these factors into account, Chief Minister informed the media.
