Bye-elections on 19 November in West Bengal and other 6 states

PIB, New Delhi, 17-October-2016: Election Commission of India has declared and announced schedule for bye-elections to fill casual vacancies in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies of 7 states. 

In West Bengal the bye-election will be held for 2 Lok Sabha and 1 Bidhan Sabha seats.

As per the schedule to fill vacancies in the Lok Sabha from Parliamentary Constituency of Assam, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Assembly Constituencies of State Legislative Assemblies of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Tripura the bye-election will be held on 19th November and the result will be announced on 22th November. The code of conduct will be implemented from 26 October .

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There are following clear vacancies in Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies of various States/UT, which needs to be filled up:

 

Sl. No.	State	Name of Parliamentary/ Assembly Constituency No. & Name
1	Assam	14-Lakhimpur (Parliamentary Constituency)
2	Assam	20-Baithalangso (ST) (Assembly Constituency)
3	Arunachal Pradesh	45 – Hayuliang (ST) (Assembly Constituency)
4	Madhya Pradesh	12-Shahdol (ST) (Parliamentary Constituency)
5	Madhya Pradesh	179-Nepanagar (ST) (Assembly Constituency)
6	West Bengal	1-Coochbehar (SC) (Parliamentary Constituency)
7	West Bengal	30-Tamluk (Parliamentary Constituency)
8	West Bengal	263-Monteswar (Assembly Constituency)
9	Tamil Nadu	195-Thiruparankundram (Assembly Constituency)
10	Tripura	4-Barjala (Assembly Constituency)
11	Tripura	25-Khowai (Assembly Constituency)
12	Puducherry	17-Nellithope (Assembly Constituency)

 

After taking into consideration various factors like local festivals, electoral rolls, weather conditions etc., the Commission has decided to hold bye-elections to fill these vacancies as per the programme mentioned as under: -

Poll Events	Schedule
Date of Issue of Gazette Notification	26.10.2016 (WED)
Last Date of Nomination	02.11.2016 (WED)
Date for Scrutiny of Nomination	03.11.2016 (THU)
Last Date of Withdrawal of candidatures	05.11.2016 (SAT)
Date of Poll	19.11.2016 (SAT)
Date of Counting	22.11.2016 (TUE)
Date before which election shall be completed	24.11.2016 (THU)

ELECTORAL ROLL

The Electoral Roll for all the States with reference to 01.01.2016 has been finally published. The bye-election in all the States will be held with the existing rolls.

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES (EVMs)

The Commission has decided to use EVMs in the bye-elections in all the polling stations. Adequate numbers of EVMs have been made available and all steps have been taken to ensure that the polls are conducted smoothly with the help of these machines.

IDENTIFICATION OF VOTERS

In consonance with the past practice, the Commission has decided that the voter’s identification shall be mandatory in the afore mentioned bye- elections at the time of poll. Electoral Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) shall be the main document of identification of a voter. However, in order to ensure that no voter is deprived of his/her franchise, if his/her name figures in the Electoral Rolls, separate instructions will be issued to allow additional documents for identification of voters at the time of poll in the said bye-elections.

 

MODEL CODE OF CONDUCT

The Model Code of Conduct shall come into force with immediate effect in the district(s) in which the whole or any part of the Parliamentary Constituency/Assembly Constituencies going for bye-elections is included, subject to partial modification as issued vide Commission’s instruction No. 437/INST/2012/CC&BE, dated 26^th April, 2012 (available on the Commission’s website). The Model Code of Conduct shall be applicable to all candidates, political parties and the State Governments concerned. The Model Code of Conduct shall also be applicable to the Union Government for the States concerned.