The Election Commission of India deferred bye-election for a Parliamentary constituency in Lakshadweep after Kerala High Court passed an order on January 25 suspending the conviction and sentence imposed on former Lakshadweep MP Mohammed Faizal PP, reported ANI.
Bye-elections to one Assembly constituency each in Arunachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, two Assembly constituencies in Maharashtra and one Parliamentary constituency in Lakshadweep will be held on February 27. The counting of votes will be on March 2.
“After considering the matter and having due regard to the order passed by Hon’ble High Court of Kerala at Ernakulam…the Election Commission of India has decided to withhold the bye election and to defer the issuance of notification for holding the bye election,” according to an EC statement.
The Kavaratti Sessions court in Lakshadweep had sentenced four people, including the MP, to 10 years in jail after they were found guilty in an attempt to murder case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh each on the convicts for attempting to kill Mohammed Salih, son-in-law of late Congress leader and former Union Minister P M Sayeed, during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
All the convicts are relatives. Faizal had approached the high court against the order.
Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha Secretariat has issued notification disqualifying Faizal from January 11, the date of his conviction by a sessions court in Kavaratti. The decision was taken under the provisions of Article 102 (l) (e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
