‘Extraordinary’ situation: EC defers bypolls across 5 states

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has deferred by-elections in Valmiki Nagar parliamentary constituency in Bihar and seven assembly seats across five states, the six-month deadlines for which expire between July 30 and September 7, 2020, in view of the “extraordinary circumstances peculiar to these constituencies”, reports Bharti Jain.
EC on Thursday said it would however hold the remaining bypolls in 49 other vacant constituencies.
The decision to defer eight bypolls — in Valmiki Nagar constituency in Bihar and assembly seats of Bulandshahr and Tundla in UP, Agar in MP, Sibsagar in Assam, Thiruvottiyur and Guidyattam in Tamil Nadu, and Chavara in Kerala — followed after the law ministry concurred with EC’s view that holding polls within the six-month period would not be possible in view of challenges posed by the Covid-19 situation, heavy rainfall and floods that may stretch to August.