Bypolls to one Lok Sabha, four assembly seats on May 10: EC

NEW DELHI, (PTI): Bypolls to one Lok Sabha and four assembly seats across four states will be held on May 10 along with the Karnataka assembly polls, the Election Commission announced on Wednesday.

The counting of votes will take place on May 13, it said.

The Jalandhar parliamentary constituency fell vacant following the death of Congress MP Santokh Singh Chaudhary, 76, in January this year following a heart attack while taking part in the Bharat Jodo Yatra.

The poll panel also announced a bypoll to the Jharsuguda assembly seat in Odisha which was necessitated by the death of Naba Kisore Das, who was shot dead by a police officer in January this year.

Bypoll to the Suar assembly seat in Uttar Pradesh was necessitated following the disqualification upon conviction of Samajwadi Party MLA Abdullah Azam Khan.

He was convicted in a 2008 case relating to a ‘dharna’ on a highway and sentenced to two years in jail. He is son of SP veteran Mohd Azam Khan, who also stands disqualified in another case.

Chhanbey is the other Uttar Pradesh assembly seat going for a bypoll, necessitated by the death of sitting Apna Dal MLA Rahul Prakash Kol due to cancer.

Bypolls will also be held in the Sohiong assembly seat of Meghalaya where election was adjourned due to the death of a candidate of the United Democratic Party (UDP).

Addressing a press conference convened to announce the Karnataka assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said there was no hurry to declare bypolls to the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat as the trial court has given Rahul Gandhi, who was disqualified as MP, one month to file an appeal.

He said the vacancy in the Wayanad parliamentary constituency was notified on March 23 this year and as per the law, a bypoll has to be conducted within six months.

Kumar said the law also states that if the remainder of the term was less than one year, then the election will not be held.

The CEC said that in the case of Wayanad, the remainder of the term is more than a year. (PTI)