On 22nd September, a bench of Delhi High Court consisting of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Vijay Kumar Shukla held that only the Election Commission of India is competent to decide as to when should the bye-elections to Parliamentary Constituency of Khandwa and Assembly Constituencies of Prathvipur, Jobat and Rajgarh should be held. The bench also held that there is no reason to assume that such decision of conducting bye-elections shall not be taken by the Commissioner after assessing the situation of Covid-19 on ground.
Facts of the case:
The writ petition has been filed as Public Interest Litigation by the Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch with a prayer that the Election Commission of India may be directed not to conduct bye-elections of Parliamentary Constituency of Khandwa and Assembly Constituencies of Prathvipur, Jobat and Rajgarh in the State of Madhya Pradesh. A further prayer has been made to direct the respondents to conduct the bye-elections only after assessing the ground situation of coronavirus in the State.
Reply of the Election Commission of India:
The Election Commission of India has filed reply to the writ petition stating that the Commission has reviewed the matter 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. It had been further stated that the Commission will take a decision in the matter at appropriate time in future after taking inputs from the concerned States and assessing the pandemic situation from mandated authorities like NDMA/SDMA.
Observation and Order of court:
The Hon’ble bench made the following observation:
- It is a settled position of law that Article 324 of the Constitution is a reservoir of power for the Election Commission to act in such vacuous area where enacted laws make no provisions or make 'insufficient provisions' to deal with the situation confronting the Election Commission in the conduct of elections as held in catena of judgments.
- In view of the position of laws as noticed above, it must be held that only the Election Commission of India is competent to decide as to when should the bye-elections to Parliamentary Constituency of Khandwa and Assembly Constituencies of Prathvipur, Jobat and Rajgarh should be held. There is no reason to assume that such decision shall not be taken by the Commissioner after assessing the situation of Covid-19 on ground.
Thus the court held that , the material produced on record clearly indicates the Election Commission is fully cognizant of the situation of corona virus and has therefore, taken a conscious decision for the time being not to hold the bye-elections.
Read Order @Latestlaws.com
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