Now, Congress high command may accept state unit’s demand and expel Preneet Kaur for her anti party activities-Experts
Kanwar Inder Singh/ royalpatiala.in News/ June 25,2023
This past Friday, 16 June 2023, the tenure of the 17th Lok Sabha completed four years of its tenure. It was on 17 June 2019 that the first Session of the current Lok Sabha was called/ summoned and as per the Constitution of India, the House of the People (Lok Sabha), unless sooner dissolved, shall continue for five years from the date appointed for its first meeting (session) and no longer. Thus the tenure of 17th Lok Sabha is till 16 June 2024. Of course, it can be subjected to premature dissolution.
Meanwhile, an Advocate at Punjab and Haryana High Court, Hemant Kumar, told that after 16 June 2023 i.e. after the completion of four years tenure of current 17th Lok Sabha, in case any Lok Sabha seat fells vacant on account of death, disqualification or resignation etc. of concerned Member of Parliament (MP), then no bye-election would be conducted by Election Commission of India (ECI) for such vacant seat since after aforementioned date i.e. on & from 17 June 2023 , the remaining term of such erstwhile MP from such seat would then be less than one year.
In this scenario, Congress Lok Sabha member from Patiala Preneet Kaur may be expelled by the congress high command, on the demand raised regularly by the state unit, for her anti party activities. As per experts, now no bye-election would be conducted by Election Commission of India (ECI) if she is expelled, disqualified and the seat got vacant.
Her expulsion is demanded by the state Congress unit since her husband Capt Amarinder Singh had left the party and later joined BJP. Their daughter Jai Inder Kaur is a strong contender of BJP ticket from Patiala Lok Sabha’s election in 2024. With this action, Congress may send a strong message to its cadre that no anti party activities will be tolerated.
Now, Congress high command may accept state unit’s demand and expel Preneet Kaur for her anti party activities-Experts . To know about party’s intention on this, Punjab congress affairs incharge Harish Chaudhary, PPCC president Amarinder Singh Raja Waring could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
Advocate at Punjab and Haryana High Court, Hemant Kumar added that , as far as already declared 5 vacant Lok Sabha seats before aforementioned cut-off date i.e. prior to 16 June 2023 are concerned, Hemant asserts bypoll(s) on at least 3 seats which fell vacant due to the death of then sitting MPs would have to be conducted in next few months. As far the remaining 2 vacant seats are concerned, which have been declared vacant due to disqualification of then sitting MPs due to conviction by a court of law, the Advocate said that the call for conduct of bye-election would have to be taken by the Election Commission of India (ECI) after awaiting the order(s) to be passed by the concerned Appellate (High) Courts which are currently seized of the issue regarding suspension of conviction of both MPs.
Currently, Ambala (SC reserved) Parliamentary Constituency (PC) in the State of Haryana and Pune & Chandrapur PCs in the State of Maharashtra are lying vacant on account of death of erstwhile MPs. As far as Wayanad PC in Kerala and Ghazipur PC in Uttar Pradesh, both seats are vacant due to disqualification of then Cong MP Rahul Gandhi from 23 March 2023 and then BSP MP Afzal Ansari from 29 April 2023 respectively .
Hemant legally asserted that Section 151A of RP Act 1951 provides that a bye-election to fill casual vacancy including in the Lok Sabha shall be held within a period of six months from the date of the occurrence of the vacancy. However, it is also provided in the aforementioned provision that bye-election shall not be conducted if the remainder of the term of a member in relation to a vacancy is less than one year.
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