Haryana: Plea before HC against delay in holding Ellenabad bypoll

CHANDIGARH: Aggrieved by the delay in holding of by-election in the Ellenabad state assembly seat in Sirsa, a petition has been filed before the Punjab and Haryana high court. Ellenabad seat is lying vacant for the past around six months because of the resignation by Abhay Singh Chautala who was elected from Ellenabad on INLD ticket in 2019 assembly polls.
The matter has reached before the HC in the wake of a petition filed in public interest by Vinod Kumar and other residents of Ellenabad assembly in Sirsa district of Haryana.
The petitioners have sought directions for declaration of the election schedule of the by-election for 46-Ellenabad assembly constituency in Haryana so that there could be a representation of people from this constituency in the Haryana legislative assembly. The assembly seat has been lying vacant since January 27, which is more than six months. Further directions have also been sought to initiate necessary steps adopting the Covid-19 precautions, safety arrangements towards the conduct of peaceful and fair elections for by-election of Ellenabad assembly constituency in the interest of the general public.
The petitioners have impleaded the chief secretary Haryana, election commission of India (ECI) and the chief electoral officer Haryana as respondent parties. The petition is expected to come up for hearing next week.
The petition filed through advocate Sandeep Goyat has submitted that more than six months’ time has passed and there is no representation in the Haryana legislative assembly from Ellenabad constituency and the people of the constituency are facing a lot of difficulties due to non-representation from their constituency. It has also been stated that as per section 151-A of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951, a by-election for filling any vacancy shall be held within a period of 6 months from the date of occurrence of the vacancy but in the present case the statutory period has already elapsed.
It has also been stated that on May 5, the ECI had announced to defer by-election of three notified vacancies in parliament constituencies and eight vacancies in assembly constituencies including Ellenabad in Haryana. It was decided by the ECI that due to the outbreak of the second wave of Covid-19 in the country, it would not be appropriate to hold bye-elections till the pandemic situation significantly improves and conditions become conducive to hold these by-elections.
According to the petitioner when the ECI announced to defer the elections, the Covid-19 was at its peak but even at that time, general elections were held in some states of the country and Panchayat elections were held in Uttar Pradesh as well.
“In Ellenabad, it has come to the knowledge of the petitioners that no active cases are left and currently it is the most suitable time to hold the elections. There are hardly any cases in the Ellenabad assembly area as well as in the entire Sirsa district,” the PIL has submitted seeking directions to hold bypoll under COVID protocol.
It has also been stated in the petition that the inaction on behalf of the state government in sending the inputs regarding the pandemic situation shows that the state government is not willing to conduct the by-election.