Judiciary Slams EC I "Abdication of Constitutional Duties " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKaYxcJyCrc Mojo Story At a time when the powers of the election commission, its independence and how to appoint its members is the subject of fierce debate, the Election Commission finds itself in the middle of a big legal controversy. The Bombay High Court has directed the Election Commission of India to immediately conduct bypoll to the Pune Lok Sabha seat which has been vacant since March 29, 2023, after the death of Member of Parliament Girish Bapat.
A division bench of Justices GS Patel and Kamal Khata quashed and set aside a certificate issued by the ECI which stated that bypoll will not be held.
Citizens going unrepresented would amount to sabotaging the entire constitutional framework, the Bombay High Court said. “We find it unthinkable that several months could go pass and the entire constituency be told that now time has not remained and constituency might as well wait for 2024. We cannot possibly accept or contemplate this,” the bench held.
ECI submitted that the whole of its machinery has been far too busy since March 2023 to prepare for the upcoming general elections of 2024. The court did not find this to be a genuine difficulty.
The petitioner, Sughosh Joshi, a registered voter in Pune constituency, challenged the ECI certificate.
Advocate Dayaar Singla | Petitioner's Lawyer
Abha Singh | Lawyer
Satya Pal Jain | Additional Solicitor General of India
Ashutosh Shrivastava | Advocate