T’PURAM/KOCHI: With the high court on Monday ordering the Election Commission (EC) to conduct polls to three Rajya Sabha seats from the state during the term of the current Legislative Assembly, the EC later in the day announced that the election would be held on April 30.
A notification in this regard under Section 12 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, was issued by the Election Commission.
As per the notification, nominations will be accepted from Tuesday and the last day for submission would be April 20. On April 21, the nominations will be scrutinized, and April 23 will be the last day for withdrawal of nominations. The polling will be held from 9am to 4pm on April 30.
The Commission also appointed Kerala Legislative Assembly secretary S V Unnikrishnan Nair as the returning officer for the poll and KLA special secretary R Kishor Kumar as the assistant returning officer.
Out of the nine Rajya Sabha seats in the state, terms of Vayalar Ravi (Congress), KK Ragesh (CPM), and P V Abdul Wahab (IUML) are due to expire on April 21.
Monday’s order by the HC bench of Justice PV Asha had come while considering two petitions filed by the secretary of Kerala Legislative Assembly and S Sharma, MLA. After announcing that the polls would be completed by April 16, the EC had postponed them citing a reference from the central government. In court, the EC had contended that it is the next Assembly that has to elect the Rajya Sabha members.
The court said the power to amend or extend the election schedule should not be invoked normally by the EC and is warranted only when there is a law and order situation or any practical impossibility. The postponement is not envisaged either in the Constitution or in the rules in the absence of good and sufficient reasons, the court added.
Stating that EC is not expected to be influenced on the basis of a reference, the court said the Commission had notified the Assembly election and was aware of it when it announced the election to the Rajya Sabha seats. Once the results to Legislative Assembly election are announced, there would be another electorate for the Rajya Sabha polls. It could have been avoided if the Rajya Sabha polls were held as scheduled. The fact that it is up to the Commission to fix the schedule would not mean that it can fix any date, the court said.
Therefore, the Commission should expedite the proceedings so that the representation in the upper house from the state is always in full swing and a situation where the nominations are made by one Legislative Assembly and voting by another is avoided, the judgment said.