The Pune Lok Sabha seat has been vacant since the death of sitting BJP MP Girish Bapat.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday asked the Election Commission of India to immediately hold the bypoll for the Pune Lok Sabha seat, stressing that people from the constituency cannot be left unrepresented for a long time.
A division bench of Justices Gautam Patel and Kamal Khata ripped into the EC's stand on not holding the elections as it was busy with other polls, including preparation for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, calling it "bizarre and wholly unreasonable".
The Pune Lok Sabha seat has been vacant since the death of sitting BJP Member of Parliament (MP) Girish Bapat on March 29 this year.
"In any parliamentary democracy, governance is done by elected representatives who are the voices of people. If the representative is no more, another must be put in place. People cannot go unrepresented. That is wholly unconstitutional and is a fundamental anathema to our constitutional structure," the court said.
The court passed its order on a plea filed by Pune resident Sughosh Joshi against a certificate issued by the EC to not hold the bye election to the constituency.
The EC had said it would not be holding the bypoll on two grounds - one that it was busy with other polls including the preparatory activities for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and second that even if the Pune bypoll was held the elected representative would get a very short tenure.
The bench, however, refused to accept these grounds and said both are not valid concerns. They are, in fact, an "abdication" of constitutional duties and obligations which cannot be accepted, it said.
"The ECI is not only vested but charged with the duty and obligation to hold elections and see to it that any vacancy is filled in. The ECI cannot let a constituency remain unrepresented. Voters cannot be denied this right," the court said.
It noted that the term of the Lok Sabha ends in June 2024 while the Pune constituency seat has been lying vacant since March this year.
"The ground that the entire machinery of the ECI was busy with the preparatory activities for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections borders on the bizarre," the court said.
The court said these are not genuine difficulties expressed by the ECI to not hold the Pune bye election and hence they are wholly unacceptable.
"No amount of inconvenience can undermine the statutory and constitutional obligations and duties cast upon the ECI. This is something unthinkable and would amount to sabotaging the constitutional framework," the court said in its order.
The court noted that the poll body's powers and directions are not exempt from judicial review, especially when the same affects public law and interest.
Allowing the petition, the bench quashed the EC's certificate and directed it to hold the Pune bypoll immediately.
Joshi's advocate Dayaar Singla welcomed the order and said this would not only pave the way for the bypoll but also crystallise the right of the electorate to be represented.
Joshi in his plea filed through advocates Singla and Shraddha Swarup, said as per section 151A of the Representation of People Act, the vacancy should be filled through bypoll within six months.
The petitioner claimed that over the past few months, the constituents had no voice in Parliament, especially for issues related to significant delays in several developmental projects in Pune.
The petitioner claimed that not conducting the bypoll was in violation of the right of the electorate.
Bapat passed away at 72 in Pune on March 29. He had served as the MLA five times from the Kasba Peth constituency in the city. He was elected to Lok Sabha from the Pune constituency in 2019.
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