An all-party meeting held in Kerala on Friday has decided to request the Election Commission of India to cancel the November by-polls that are supposed to be held to the two vacant seats of the Kerala Assembly. The ruling parties of the LDF and the opposition parties came to the consensus considering the prevailing COVID-19 situation, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in a press meet held after the all-party meeting.
The two Assembly seats -- in Chavara of Kollam and Kuttanad of Alappuzha -- had become vacant after the death of MLAs Vijayan Pillay and Thomas Chandy, respectively. Though UDF had declared candidates to both the seats recently, according to the CM, the front has also decided that by-election should be cancelled. The Kerala CM also pointed out that the state will be going to Assembly Elections in the summer of 2021.
“If the election is held in November, the legislators will only get three months -- December to February -- as their term. Considering the cost of the polls and the other associated charges, this time is very less. For just three months if a legislator is elected, they will not get much time to do anything,” said Kerala CM Pinarayi.
He also pointed out that the prevailing COVID-19 situation was also a hindrance.
“This was discussed in the all-party meet and has been decided to request the Election Commission that the bypolls to the two Assembly seats can be held along with the local body polls that will be conducted after six months,” Pinarayi Vijayan added.
Meanwhile, he also said that the all-party meet has also decided to request the state Election Commission to postpone the local body polls, slated for mid October, to next year.
“Since it is not right to quote a time period, we have not decided on that. No one thinks that the polls should be postponed indefinitely. But a little bit, it has to be extended due to the COVID-19 situation,” CM said.
Though Pinarayi said that all parties have reached a consensus, BJP state president K Surendran told the media that all-party meetings were held with a decision already decided.
“If polls are extended, then there will be a hindrance to the continuation of developmental projects. This was the concern BJP shared. But what I have inferred is that the opposition UDF and the LDF had already reached a consensus outside the meeting,” K Surendran told the media.
Watch K Surendran's reaction: