EC defers bye-elections

SHILLONG, May 5: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Wednesday decided to defer proposed by-polls to three Lok Sabha and eight Assembly seats across the state, including two in Meghalaya, in view of the prevailing coronavirus situation in the country.
The EC said it would not be appropriate to hold the electoral exercise till the pandemic situation improves significantly.
In a statement, the ECI has stated that there are two notified vacancies in Meghalaya including Rajabala and Mawryngkneng constituency.
“As per the provisions of section 151A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the vacancies are required to be filled, through bye-elections 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. We have as reviewed the matter today and has decided that due to outbreak of the second wave of COVID-19 in the country it would not be appropriate to hold bye-elections till the pandemic situation significantly improves and conditions become conducive to hold these bye-elections,” the ECI stated.
The commission further stated that it will take a decision in the matter at appropriate time in the future after taking inputs from the concerned states and assessing the pandemic situation from mandated authorities like NDMA/SDMA.
It may be mentioned that bypolls to the Mawryngkneng and Rajabala constituencies has been necessitated due to the demise of two Congress legislators, David Nongrum and Dr. Azad Zaman.