Bombay HC asks EC to immediately hold bypoll for Pune Lok Sabha seat

In a recent development, the Bombay High Court issued a directive on Wednesday, urging the Election Commission of India to promptly conduct a bypoll for the Pune Lok Sabha seat. The court emphasized the urgency of ensuring that the constituents in the region are not left without representation for an extended period.

A division bench comprising Justices Gautam Patel and Kamal Khata strongly criticized the Election Commission's stance on abstaining from conducting elections, citing its engagement in various polls, including preparations for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. The bench deemed this justification as bizarre and wholly unreasonable.

The Pune Lok Sabha seat has remained unoccupied following the passing of the incumbent Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament (MP), Girish Bapat, on March 29 of this year.

In any parliamentary democracy, governance is done by elected representatives who are the voices of people. If the representative is no more, another must be put in place. People cannot go unrepresented. That is wholly unconstitutional and is a fundamental anathema to our constitutional structure, the court said.

The court passed its order on a plea filed by Pune resident Sughosh Joshi against a certificate issued by the EC to not hold the bye election to the constituency. The EC had said it would not be holding the bypoll on two grounds – one that it was busy with other polls including the preparatory activities for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and second that even if the Pune bypoll was held the elected representative would get a very short tenure.

The bench, however, refused to accept these grounds and said both are not valid concerns. They are, in fact, an abdication of constitutional duties and obligations which cannot be accepted, it said. The ECI is not only vested but charged with the duty and obligation to hold elections and see to it that any vacancy is filled in. The ECI cannot let a constituency remain unrepresented. Voters cannot be denied this right, the court said.

It noted that the term of the Lok Sabha ends in June 2024 while the Pune constituency seat has been lying vacant since March this year. The ground that the entire machinery of the ECI was busy with the preparatory activities for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections borders on the bizarre, the court said.