No By-Election For Akola West Assembly Constituency: Bombay High Court Quashes ECI's Notification

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday quashed the Election Commission of India's (ECI) by-election notification for the Akola West Assembly Constituency, Maharashtra and held that there will be no bye-poll for the constituency.

A division bench of Justice Anil S Kilor and Justice MS Jawalkar sitting at Nagpur noted that the incoming member would have a term of less than a year till the expiry of the current Assembly's term.

“As the period of less than one year is left as a balance term an incoming member would get from the date of declaration of the result of the bye-election, we have no hesitation to hold that the impugned notification dated 16/03/2024 issued by the respondent No.1 (ECI) is contrary to proviso (a) to Section 151-A of the Act of 1951”, the court observed.

The court allowed a writ petition filed by local resident Anil Shivkumar Dubey who challenged the notification issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on March 16, 2024, which declared bye-elections for the said constituency. The seat had fallen vacant following the demise of MLA Gowardhan Mangilal Sharma on November 3, 2023.

The issue revolved around the interpretation of proviso (a) to Section 151-A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. This provision mandates that a bye-election should be held within six months of a vacancy unless the remainder of the term is less than one year.

The court relied on the Supreme Court judgment in Sandeep Yashwantrao Sarode v. Election Commission of India that interpreted "the remainder of the term" as the period an incoming member would serve, not from the occurrence of the vacancy but from the declaration of the bye-election result.

In light of the upcoming expiration of the assembly's term on November 26, 2024, and the scheduled declaration of the bye-election result on June 4, 2024, the court found that the incoming member would serve less than the one-year threshold.

Consequently, the notification for the bye-election was deemed contrary to the proviso and was quashed to the extent of declaration of bye-elections of the Akola West Assembly Constituency.

Case no. – Writ Petition No. 1986 of 2024

Case Title – Anil S/o. Shivkumar Dubey v. Election Commission of India and Ors.

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