The Election Commission of India (ECI) stated that it was busy with Lok Sabha polls and other elections; hence, it would not be possible for it to conduct bypolls for the Pune Lok Sabha constituency. The Bombay High Court (HC) termed this act of the ECI as ‘hardly tenable’ and ‘unsustainable.’
The HC bench said that it could understand this stance of the ECI if the election was being held in places like Manipur, where there is unrest, but not in Maharashtra.
After MP Girish Bapat’s death in March 2023, the Pune Lok Sabha constituency became vacant.
A division bench of Justice Gautam S. Patel and Justice Kamal R. Khata was hearing a plea filed by a Pune citizen against a certificate issued by the poll body not to hold a bypoll in the constituency.
Advocates Kushal Mor, Shraddha Swarup, and Dayaar Singla argued on behalf of one Sughosh Joshi from Pune, arguing that the vacancy should have been filled by bypoll within six months, in accordance with Section 151A of the Representation of People Act, 1951, and that the bypoll should have taken place by September 28.
Joshi asserted that throughout the previous few months, the people in Parliament had been denied a voice, particularly with regard to matters concerning the notable setbacks in a number of Pune development projects.
On December 7, the high court said, prima facie, it did not concur with the reasons given by ECI that, in case the bypolls are held, the returned candidate would hardly have 3 to 4 months of work as MP. It would also affect the preparatory activities for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. It had sought to know why the ECI could not hold the bypolls.
Pradeep Rajgopal, an advocate for the ECI, stated on December 11 that the poll body was too busy with other polls and planning for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The electoral commission went on to state that the new MP would serve less than a year if the bypolls were held right now.
"They (ECI) claim they are unable to hold these polls because they are preoccupied with other elections. We fully understand if they claim they can't have polls in a location like Manipur where there is a physical disturbance, but not in Maharashtra," the bench stated.
The attorney for the petitioner contended that after the vacancy in the Pune constituency arose, by-elections were conducted in other constituencies this year. The petitioner was instructed by the top court to include the information in an affidavit, and a follow-up session was scheduled for Wednesday, December 13.
The petitioner's attorneys had argued that the ECI's justifications and legislative compliances were invalid, and therefore, the electorate's right to a bypoll was violated.
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