Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has announced his resignation from the post. A day after coming out of jail after getting bail from the Supreme Court, he spoke about resigning. The Aam Aadmi Party legislature will meet on Tuesday where it will approve the name of the next chief minister.
“I will resign as chief minister,” Kejriwal said while addressing Aam Aadmi Party workers on September 15. “I will not be the chief minister until the public takes a verdict.
While resigning, Kejriwal also demanded that assembly elections be held in Delhi in November. He said, “Delhi will have elections in February. I demand that these elections be held in November along with Maharashtra.
Will this happen?
The current Delhi Assembly will last until February 23, 2025. By this calculation, there are about five months left.
Under Section 15 of the Representation of the People Act, the Election Commission can announce elections up to six months before the end of the term of the state legislative assembly. This means that the Election Commission can announce the election date as needed.
However, this usually happens only when the assembly there is dissolved. The Delhi Assembly has not yet been dissolved. In order to hold early elections, the Delhi government will have to recommend the dissolution of the Assembly. Thereafter, the Lieutenant Governor will dissolve the Assembly.
There will be problems here too!
Even if Parliament is dissolved, the issue of holding elections in November could still be fraught. In fact, the electoral roll for Delhi is not yet ready.
Kejriwal said like Maharashtra, Delhi elections too should be held in November. But the Election Commission had started the voters list process for Maharashtra in June. The process of preparing voters roll takes two to three months. The election date is announced thereafter.
The Election Commission started updating the voter rolls for Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir in June. The Election Commission started the process on June 25 and the final data was released on August 20. This means it took two months. The Election Commission announced the date for the assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir on August 16. However, the election dates for Maharashtra and Jharkhand are yet to be announced.
An English newspaper quoted an Election Commission official as saying that the nationwide process of updating the electoral roll has begun on August 20. Delhi is also included in it. The comprehensive draft will be prepared from October 19 to 28 and published on October 29. After this, claims and objections will be registered by November 28. After resolving all these claims and objections by December 24, the final electoral roll will be published on January 6, 2025. This means that the next three months will be spent on preparing the electoral roll. Therefore, holding elections in November may be a bit difficult.
It is necessary to update the electoral rolls so that new voters can also vote. Experts believe that the Election Commission can only hold the election on time.
The Delhi government must also explain why
In Maharashtra, the term of the assembly ends on November 26. Therefore, it is necessary to hold elections here before then. But the term of Delhi ends in five months. Therefore, the Delhi government will have to explain to the Election Commission the reason for holding early elections.
The Press Trust of India news agency said after speaking to constitutional experts that in order to hold early elections, the Delhi government will have to provide written reasons to the Election Commission. However, the final decision will be made by the Election Commission.
An expert who did not wish to be named said that the Election Commission has the power to hold assembly elections in Maharashtra and Delhi. But the last elections were held separately in the two states. In this case, there must be a reason for holding the elections together this time.
The Delhi Assembly Election 2020 date was announced on January 6. However, the results were announced on February 11 after voting on February 8. In this election, the Aam Aadmi Party won 62 of the 70 seats. While the BJP won 8 seats.
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