Will there be a second byelection in Palakkad if Rahul resigns as MLA?
If Rahul resigns and byelection is held even immediately, the new MLA will have less than one year in office.
If Rahul resigns and byelection is held even immediately, the new MLA will have less than one year in office.
If Rahul resigns and byelection is held even immediately, the new MLA will have less than one year in office.
A major reason why the Congress party is reluctant to announce Rahul Mamkoottathil's resignation as Palakkad MLA is the spectre of another byelection.
Fear is that the BJP might cash in on the anti-Mamkoottathil sentiment stoked by his alleged inappropriate behaviour towards women and snatch the seat. Like Nemom in Thiruvananthapuram, Palakkad is considered a winnable seat for the BJP. From the 2016 Assembly polls, the party had stood second in the polls, relegating the CPM to the third position.
In the 2021 Assembly polls, when Metroman E Sreedharan was the candidate, the BJP had garnered over 35 per cent of the votes; the winning Congress candidate Shafi Parambil had scraped through with 38 per cent of the votes. As proof of its clout in the urban areas, the BJP runs the Palakkad Municipality.
Nonetheless, the law does not sanction a byelection at this stage. The Representation of the People's Act, 1951, says that in the event of a vacancy, it should be filled within six months. However, Section 151A of the RP Act inserts two exceptions to this rule.
One, if the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is less than one year. Meaning, the newly elected MLA should enjoy at least a year in office. The term of the second Pinarayi Ministry will end in the middle of May 2026. So if Rahul resigns and a byelection is held immediately, the new MLA will have less than one year in office.
This effectively rules out a second byelection. The first snap poll was held last November, and Rahul had won by a record margin of 18,840 votes.
The other exception to the six-month deadline is when the Election Commission is certain that a byelection could not be held during the remaining period.
The ECI, in an RTI reply to RTI activist M T Thomas's query in 2015 on the "minimum remaining period required for conducting a byelection, the ECI had quoted Section 151A of the RE Act, 1951.
"The Section 151A of the RP Act, 1951, renders that a bye-election for filling casual vacancies in the House of the People and State Legislative Assemblies shall be held within a period of six months from the date of occurrence of the vacancy, provided the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is not less than one year," the reply said.