Rahul vacant seat: EC yet to announce election date

The Election Commission of India did not announce by-elections for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency in Kerala today, which has been vacant since Rahul Gandhi's disqualification as an MP as a result of his two-year prison sentence in a defamation case.

Karnataka will vote on 10 May and the verdict will be announced three days later, NDTV has reported. The election body added that on 13 May, the by-polls for the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency will be held.

The much-anticipated Wayanad dates were excluded. The poll body stated that all vacancies till February 2023 have been filled.

"We have cleared vacancies till February. This vacancy was notified in March. A 30-day period has been given for appeal. We are not in a hurry," Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar told reporters.

He highlighted the Representation of People Act, 1951, which states that by-elections must be held within six months following a vacancy.

If the Election Commission had declared bypolls in Wayanad today, the Congress would have prepared for a judicial battle.

Rahul Gandhi was disqualified on Friday, a day after a Surat court convicted him and sentenced him to two years in prison in a defamation case filed by a BJP leader.

The Congress leader has 30 days to file an appeal.

If the sentence is put on hold, Rahul Gandhi will get his Lok Sabha membership back, the Congress says.

The Representation of the People Act, 1951, says that anyone convicted of an offence and sentenced to imprisonment for two years or more stands disqualified.

In a similar case, another politician was restored as a Lok Sabha MP today.

Mohammad Faizal, a Lakshadweep MP who was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison for attempted murder, regained his Lok Sabha membership two months after the Kerala High Court stayed his sentence.

Faizal claims that a false case was filed against him in 2016 in connection with charges of attempting to assassinate a relative of former Union Minister PM Sayeed during the 2009 elections.

In the midst of his trial, the NCP leader was elected to the Lok Parliament in 2019. On 11 January, he and three others were condemned. The Lok Sabha Secretariat sent him a disqualification notice two days later.

The Election Commission stated on 18 January that elections for Faizal's Lakshadweep seat would be held on 27 January. The Kerala High Court suspended Faizal's sentence two days before the election, prompting the Election Commission to postpone the by-election. According to sources, the poll body wants to avoid a similar retreat in Wayanad.