It has been a clear and consistent policy of the Commission to hold the bye-elections at the earliest possible opportunity in order to ensure that no segment of the Indian people are left unrepresented for unnecessary length of time.

A casual vacancy from 253-Allagadda Assembly Constituency in Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly arose on 16.05.2014 as Smt. Bhuma Shobha Nagi Reddy, a contesting candidate died on 24.04.2014 and was declared elected by the Returning Officer concerned on having secured the highest number of valid votes. As per the provisions of Section 151A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (read with the Section 150 of the Act), the Commission is required to fill the vacancy within the period of six months from the date of its occurrence, viz 15.11.2014 in the present case.

However, bye-election to fill the casual vacancy from 253-Allagadda Assembly Constituency could not be conducted earlier as two petitions namely, (i) W.P. No.14303/2014 and (ii) W.P. No.14305/2014 were filed before the Hon’ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh in relation to the election from the said constituency. Now, the Hon’ble High Court of Andhra Pradesh vide its interim order dated 25.09.2014 in the W.P. No.24287 of 2014 has directed that the Election Commission of India may hold election from the said assembly constituency in accordance with law, subject to its further orders in this matter.

In view of the above and after taking into consideration various factors like, festivals, electoral rolls, etc., the Commission has decided to hold bye-election to fill the vacancy as per the programme  mentioned below:-

ELECTORAL ROLL

The electoral rolls of the Assembly Constituency have been revised with reference to 01.01.2014 as the qualifying date and have been finally published on 31-01-2014.

ELECTRONIC VOTING MACHINES (EVMs)

The Commission has decided to use EVMs in the bye-election 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

The Commission has decided that the voter’s identification shall be mandatory in the aforementioned bye- election at the time of poll. Photo Electoral Roll (PER) 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-election.

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 Assembly Constituency going for bye-election is  included, subject to partial modification as issued vide Commission’s instruction  No.  437/INST/2012/CC&BE, dated 26th   April, 2012 (available on the Commission’s website).     The Model Code of Conduct shall be applicable to all candidates, political parties and the State Government concerned. The Model Code of Conduct shall also be applicable to the Union Government for the State concerned.

Election Commission of India

New Delhi : 07 October,2014

RM/ RS