By Express News Service
NEW DELHI/DEHRADUN: Amid loads of speculation, clouds of uncertainty continue to hover over Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat’s status, since he has to get elected to the state Assembly by September 10 to stay in the saddle, but there are technical difficulties in holding byelections to make that happen.
While the BJP brass continued to brainstorm over the leadership question, the faction ridden state unit of the BJP indulged in wild speculation, ranging from leadership change to calling early elections. A few of the BJP unit’s heavyweights have also become active, fancying their chances in the event the leadership deciding to opt for a new face in the state.
Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act mandates that bypolls for a constituency can be held only if the incumbent has at least a year’s tenure to serve as a lawmaker. With the state elections likely in February-March, as the term of the Assembly will expire on March 23, 2022, there is no technical scope for holding the by-election. Rawat, a Lok Sabha MP, assumed office of the chief minister on March 10.
The state also does not have a legislative council to accommodate him. Having burnt its fingers in the West Bengal elections when the Covid second wave had started rising menacingly, the Central Election Commission apparently decided not to notify the bypoll. In all, by-elections to 26 Assembly and three Lok Sabha seats across the country have been withheld because of the pandemic.
Dr Kartikey Hari Gupta, who practises in the Uttarakhand High Court, told this newspaper: “As per Article 164 (4), a minister who for any period of six consecutive months is not a member of the legislature of the state shall at the expiration of that period cease to be a minister. For this six-month limitation, the Constitution does not differentiate between a minister and a chief minister.”
Bypoll mandatory
Section 150 of the RPA, in case of a vacancy in an Assembly, makes it mandatory for the EC to call upon the Assembly seat to elect a person for filling the vacancy, said lawyer Kartikey Hari Gupta.
