Ambala (SC) Parliamentary Constituency declared vacant-bye-Election in next 6 months legally mandatory

Published on: 24 May 2023 at 09:15 AM

Published by: thefactnews

The Fact News Service

Ambala, May 24

Lok Sabha Secretariat has issued a Notification which has been published in the Gazette of India which mentions that Ratan Lal Kataria, an elected member of Lok Sabha from Ambala Parliamentary Constituency of Haryana passed away at Chandigarh on 18 May 2023 and consequently his seat in Lok Sabha has become vacant with effect from that date.

With the demise of Kataria, who got thrice elected BJP Lok Sabha MP from Ambala (SC-Reserved) Parliamentary Constituency (PC) in the State of Haryana, questions are being raised if a By-election would be conducted on this seat in the next few months.

This is because in almost a year, the General Elections to 18th Lok Sabha are due i.e. during April-May 2024.

Amidst all this, Hemant Kumar, an Advocate at Punjab and Haryana High Court and who also happens to a registered Elector in Ambala City Assembly Segment falling under Ambala PC has recently sent a Memorandum cum Legal representation to the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar, two Election Commissioners (ECs) viz. Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel along with senior officers in Election Commission of India (ECI) to take an expeditious call on conduct of Bye-Election in Ambala PC as early as possible.

The Advocate has cited Section 151A of Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951 which provides that a bye-election to fill casual vacancy including in the House of the People (Lok Sabha) shall be held within a period of six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy. Hence in respect of the now vacant Ambala PC, such Bye-Election should be conducted by ECI well before 18 November, 2023.

However, it is also provided in the aforementioned Section 151 A of RP Act, 1951, a Bye-Election shall not be conducted if the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is less than one year.

Pertinent that the tenure of the current 17th Lok Sabha is till 16 June 2024. However Hemant told that the remainder of the tenure of earlier elected and now deceased M.P. from Ambala PC viz. Late Ratan Lal Kataria comes out to more than one year i.e. if calculated from the date of his death i.e. 18 May 2023 to 16 June 2024. Hence, Bye-Election must be conducted by the ECI in case of Ambala PC.

Interestingly, Hemant has also quoted a relevant precedent. He wrote that in the year 2018, the ECI also conducted Bye-Elections to fill three casual vacancies in the then 16th Lok Sabha from the State of Karnataka viz. Bellary, Shimoga and Mandya Lok Sabha seats which fell vacant on 18 May, 18 May and 21 May 2018 respectively. At that time, the term of then 16th Lok Saba was till 3 June 2019 and since the above mentioned three casual vacancies from Karnataka occurred more than one year before the expiration of the term of then House of the People (16th Lok Sabha), hence bye-elections were conducted by the ECI in compliance of Section 151 A of RP Act, 1951. Such Bye-Elections on the above three Lok Sabha seats were conducted after a period of five months since these seats fell vacant.

Hence, the similar yardstick ought to be applied in case of the now vacant Ambala PC in the State of Haryana which has fallen vacant with effect from 18 May 2023 due to the demise of earlier elected M.P. Ratan Lal Kataria, quips Hemant.