oppn parties What To Do About 'Forced' Bypolls?

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
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  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
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  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
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  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
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What To Do About 'Forced' Bypolls?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2021-09-26 15:06:18

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The Calcutta High Court has rightly asked the Election Commission (EC) to explain why government funds should be used to hold a by-election that is thrust upon the people by the resignation of a sitting member in order to facilitate another member of the party to contest from there. The instant reference was for the Bhowanipore bypoll in Kolkata which is happening because the sitting MLA, TMC's Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, resigned in order to let chief minister Mamata Banerjee contest from there and enter the assembly if she wins. As Banerjee had lost narrowly in Nandigram during the elections in May, she has to become a member of the assembly to continue being the chief minister. While the instant case was about Bhowanipore, this is true all over India when politicians resign from seats they win to let others contest or others who contest from more than one seat, keep one and resign from others necessitating bypolls. Even Prime Minister Modi had contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Vadodara and Varanasi and resigned from Vadodara after winning in both constituencies. The expenditure for such 'forced' bypolls is borne by the EC.

This is a genuine problem where public funds are spent unnecessarily to accommodate the whims of political parties or individuals. If a sitting member dies or is disqualified, it is another matter as the seat cannot be allowed to remain vacant. But the law is such that a sitting member can resign from his seat anytime. The political parties take advantage of this to force an unnecessary bypoll on people.

There is no easy solution to this problem. Sitting members cannot be denied their democratic right to resign their seat. Any huge monetary penalty for the action, if imposed, will not be fair. Hence, it is upon political parties to decide how this unnecessary drain on public funds can be avoided. Perhaps in such circumstances, parties can be allowed to nominate another person to replace the one they ask to resign, thereby avoiding the need for a bypoll. But for that to happen, a change in the relevant law will need to be made. Further, what would happen in case of an independent candidate? As one said earlier, there is no easy solution to this problem. 

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