Law Kumar Mishra
Patna, August 2
With the opposition parties mounting pressure to postpone the state polls due in Bihar in the backdrop of Corona pandemic, political pundits are turning the pages to determine whether the poll panel has the power to do so.
The ruling LJP and the opposition RJD have demanded postponement of the elections. JDU cancelled its proposed massive Virtual rally planned for August 7 while the BJP has put the ball in the court of Election Commission of India (ECI).
Legal experts say there are two provisions that power the ECI to act in the given situation. First, Section 153 in The Representation of the People Act, 1951 and second Article 324 in the Indian Constitution.
Section 153 in The Representation of the People Act, 1951 says “Extension of time for completion of election.—It shall be competent for the Election Commission for reasons which it considers sufficient, to extend the time for the completion of any election by making necessary amendments in the notification issued by it under section 30 or sub-section.
While Article 324 of the Constitution vests the “superintendence, direction and control of elections” in an Election Commission consisting “of the Chief Election Commissioner and such number of other Election Commissioners, if any, as the President may from time to time fix”.
Experts opined powers under Section 153 can be exercised only after an election schedule has been notified. If the EC wants to postpone Bihar elections, it will have to be done through its extraordinary powers under Article 324.
Article 324 in the Indian Constitution gives power to the Election Commission to direct, control, and conduct elections to all Parliament, to the Legislature of every state and of elections to the offices of the President and Vice President held under the Constitution.
The Commission, under this provision read with Article 324 of the Constitution, postponed the parliamentary elections for three weeks in 1991 after Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination during his campaign in Tamil Nadu.
As recently as March this year, elections to 18 Rajya Sabha seats were postponed by the Commission due to the COVID19 pandemic.
