Schedule for Bye-elections in Parliamentary/ Assembly Constituencies of various States
Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 16
The bye-election to the 51-Noksen (ST) Assembly Constituency will be held on April 17, the Election Commission of India (ECI) announced on Tuesday.
The bye-election is necessitated to fill the casual vacancy created following the demise of the former Minister for Environment, Forest, and Climate Change and Justice & Law, CM Chang on October 12, 2020.
The Commission has decided to hold bye-elections to fill vacancies in Two (2) Parliamentary Constituencies of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and Fourteen (14) vacancies in Assembly Constituencies of various States, the ECI stated in a press release.
The date of poll is April 17 while the counting will be held on May 2. The election process will be completed on or before May 5.
While the Gazette Notification regarding the bye-elections will be issued on March 23, the last date for nominations is March 30, the Commission said.
The date of scrutiny of nominations is March 31 while last date for withdrawal of candidatures is April 3.
“The Model code of conduct (MCC) shall come into force with immediate effect in the district(s) in which the whole or any part of the Parliamentary/Assembly constituency going for election is included, subject to partial modification as issued vide Commission’ s instruction No. 437/6/1NST/2016-CCS, dated 29th June, 2017,” the ECI said.
The MCC shall be applicable to all candidates, political parties and the State government concerned as well as applicable to the Union Government, it said.
“The Electoral Rolls for the aforesaid Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies w.r.t 01.01.2021 as the qualifying date has been finally published,” it added.
“The Commission has decided to use EVMs and VVPATs in these bye-elections in all polling stations. Adequate numbers of EVMs and VVPATs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines,” the ECI further informed.
In continuance to the existing practice, the voter's identification shall be mandatory in the aforementioned election at the time of poll. Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) shall be the main document of identification of a voter, it said.
However, in order to ensure that no voter is deprived of his/her franchise, alternate identity documents will be allowed. They include Aadhaar Card, MNREGA Job Card; Bank Passbooks with photograph; Health Insurance Smart Card issued under the scheme of Ministry of Labour; Driving License; PAN Card; Smart Card issued by RGI under NPR; Indian Passport; Pension document with photograph; Service Identity Cards with photograph issued to employees by Central/State Govt./PSUs/Public Limited Companies, and Official identity cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs.
In view of spread of COVID-19, the Commission on 21st August, 2020, issued broad guidelines, which is to be followed strictly during the conduct of elections, which is available on Commission’s website, the ECI said.
"All instructions issued during General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Bihar, 2020 and General Elections to Legislative Assemblies of 5 States/UT shall also be mutatis mutandis applicable to the aforementioned bye-elections," it added.
