Parties agree to cancel Assembly by-elections in Kerala; postpone polls to LSG bodies

All political parties favoured the cancellation of the Kuttanad and Chavara assembly by-elections. This was the consensus reached at an all-party meeting held on September 11. The parties agreed to postpone the elections to the Local Self-Government Institutions in the present special circumstances but to hold them as soon as possible.

The term of the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly ends in May 2021. The general election to the Legislative Assembly is likely to take place in April. Assembly elections were held in April 2011 and 2016. Therefore, the Model Code of Conduct is likely to come into force by March 10, 2021.

If by-elections to the Kuttanad and Chavara Assembly constituencies are held by mid-November, the elected member will have only three full months (December, January and February) to work. This time is negligible compared to election expenses and other liabilities.

A member of the legislature who is elected for three-and-a-half months will not have time to show any significant activity. Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 states that a vacancy must be filled within six months. The vacancy came about on December 20, 2019 due to the death of Thomas Chandy in Kuttanad constituency. The Chavara constituency fell vacant on March 8, 2020. It has been six months since the vacancy in Kuttanad constituency.

At the same time, the spread of COVID 19 remains a major issue. All the government machinery was involved in the fight against COVID-19. The all-party meeting discussed whether it was appropriate to focus on elections at this particular stage to elect a legislator who can only serve for three months.

It was suggested at the meeting that the Kuttanad and Chavara by-elections should not be held now and that it would be appropriate to ask the Central Election Commission unanimously that elections be held in these constituencies with the forthcoming general elections in the next six months. In view of this, all parties unanimously agreed that by-elections should be avoided.

Elections to local bodies are imminent. The new governing bodies of the panchayats, municipalities and corporations are expected to take office in November 2020 at the end of their five-year term. That is a constitutional obligation. The local body elections cannot be compared with the Kuttanad and Chavara by-elections. There is a core difference between the two. Fulfilling the constitutional duty of electing a five-year governing body is not comparable to electing a representative for three months.

In July 2020, the average number of new COVID cases per day was 618, while in August it rose to 1,672 and 2,281 as of September 9. COVID-19 was confirmed on 3,349 people on September 11.

COVID-19 proliferation remains a major problem and it is a big challenge. Some may wonder whether the COVID situation applies to local government elections as well. However, local body elections are an inalienable constitutional obligation. However, the government has said it will look into the possibility of making a slight change in the date. The obligation to hold local elections is in accordance with Articles 243E and 243U of the Constitution. Therefore, it would be impossible to prolong the local elections too much.

But in the case of COVID, many parties have expressed concern about holding this election. They also pointed out the difficulty of holding elections in the present situation. It was agreed to inform the State Election Commission that the election should be postponed. But the government does not intend to postpone the election indefinitely. That was the general opinion at the meeting.

Elections are the cornerstone of democracy. However, holding by-elections to elect a Member of the Legislative Assembly for a period of time for which there is no possible time to work, especially for a period of three to three-and-a-half months, may impose an unnecessary financial burden. Beyond that, it is irrelevant to the essence of popular representation. Considering all this, a consensus was reached at the all-party meeting.