The Wayanad parliamentary seat, represented by Rahul Gandhi who was this month disqualified as MP, did not figure in the list of bypolls declared by the Election Commission of India on Wednesday.
In response to queries, chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar told reporters here: “Under section 151A of the RP Act (1951) whenever there is a vacancy, we have to do the by-election in six months’ time. The vacancy has occurred and reported on 23-3-2023 to us. So we have six months’ time to do that election, and the second proviso of the section also says that if the remainder of the term of the vacancy is less than one year then the election will not take place. In this case, it is more than one year.”
He continued: “We have cleared the vacancies till February. In this case, the trial court has given 30 days’ time for a judicial remedy and therefore, there is no hurry to do it before exhausting that particular remedy…”
Twice in the recent past, the Election Commission had to rescind a bypoll notification after the Supreme Court ordered it to wait for the disqualified MP’s appeal to be heard.
On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha reinstated the membership of NCP’s Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal P.P., hours before the Supreme Court was due to hear his appeal against the House failing to restore his membership even after the high court had suspended the conviction that led to his disqualification.
On January 11, Faizal was handed a 10-year jail term by a Kavaratti court for attempting to murder Mohammed Salih, the son-in-law of late Congress minister P. M. Sayeed in 2009. Following the conviction, Faizal was disqualified as an MP on January 13.
Section 8 (3) of The Representation of the People Act, 1951 says: “A person convicted of any offence and sentenced to imprisonment for not less than two years [other than any offence referred to in sub-section (1) or sub-section (2)] shall be disqualified from the date of such conviction and shall continue to be disqualified for a further period of six years since his release.”
On January 18, the Election Commission announced the bypoll to the Lakshadweep constituency.
On January 25, Kerala High Court suspended Faizal’s conviction until it had pronounced its judgment on his appeal against the Kavaratti court’s verdict.
On January 30, the EC rescinded the bypoll.
However, the Lok Sabha secretariat failed to restore Faizal’s membership and he approached the Supreme Court, which listed his petition for Wednesday.
Hours before it was to come up, Lok Sabha secretary-general Utpal Kumar Singh issued a notification restoring the membership.
The decision came against the backdrop of Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from the Lok Sabha following his conviction in a criminal defamation case with a two-year jail term by a trial court in Gujarat. Rahul is yet to appeal to a higher court against the verdict.
The NCP welcomed the revocation of Faizal’s suspension but expressed displeasure over the delay.
“The disqualification should have been revoked immediately after the Kerala High Court passed an order on January 25 suspending his conviction and sentencing. Though late, this is a welcome move,” said NCP national spokesman Clyde Crasto.
Last year too, the Election Commission had to postpone a bypoll notification after the Supreme Court asked it to wait for disqualified Samajwadi Party MLA Azam Khan’s appeal to be heard in an Uttar Pradesh court.
Rahul Gandhi was disqualified after a Gujarat court convicted him in a defamation case and handed him a two-year jail term. The Congress leader has not yet approached a higher court.