Photo Source: ANI
Two months on, declarations made by ROs of all Lok Sabha constituencies yet to published
Babushahi Bureau
Chandigarh, August 2, 2024: It has been over two months since the results of the General Election to the 18th Lok Sabha in respect of all 543 Parliamentary Constituencies (PCs) across the country were declared on 4 June 2024 by the concerned Returning Officers (ROs) of respective parliamentary constituencies but they are yet to be published by the concerned authorities.
Hemant Kumar, an Advocate at Punjab & Haryana High Court said despite two months having passed since the declaration of the above election results, all the R.O.s have not yet uploaded the signed declarations of the elected candidates in the Gazette of the Government of India. The publication has not been made to date which is however mentioned in the Representation of the People Act, 1951.This has been done under Section 67 of the Act and Rule 64 of the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961 and the election declaration is issued in Form 21C annexed to the said Rules.
Hemant also informed that as per the decision given by the Supreme Court in August, 1985 in the case of Krishna Ballabh Prasad Singh vs SDO Hilsa cum Returning Officer, the concerned R.O.Before issuing the election certificate to the candidate declared victorious in the election counting by the Representation of the People Act (RP), 1951 Section 67 of the Electoral Code and Rule 64 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 make it mandatory for the R.O. to issue a declaration of election of that candidate signed by him. Then such election declarations issued in respect of all those elected candidates are to be certified by the appropriate authority (Appropriate Authority). Authority) in the official gazette. As far as the matter of Rajya Sabha MPs elected in the biennial elections to the seats of Rajya Sabha and the by-elections held as a result of the premature vacancy of those seats is concerned, the R.P. Under the above-mentioned Section 67 of the Act, 1951, the election notification of the relevant elected Rajya Sabha MPs, signed by the R.O., is published in the Gazette of the Government of India by the Legislative Department under the Union Ministry of Law and Justice. is published.
Hemant said that when he did not find the declarations of elected candidates signed by each concerned R.O. published in the Gazette of the Government of India even after a month of declaration of election results of the elections held for the formation of the 18th Lok Sabha, he had last month On July 9, filed RTI petition in the Central Legislative Department on this subject and information was sought in this regard. In the reply given by the department on July 26 last month, it is clearly written that the current situation in this regard is But information is not available.
"Although all the concerned R.O.'s have issued election declarations about each winning candidate with his signature, but legally it is mandatory for all those declarations to be published by the appropriate authority in the form of a notification in the gazette," he added.
Hemant also informed that as far as the Assembly by-election held on 25 May on 21-Karnal Assembly seat in Haryana is concerned, the result of which was also declared on 4 June 2024 along with the results of the Lok Sabha general elections and In the by-election of the assembly seat in which the Chief Minister of the state Naib Singh Saini has been elected, the declaration regarding the election of Naib Saini, however, was not signed by the Returning Officer of the said seat, i.e. the Sub Divisional Officer (Civil) - SDM Karnal. The seal has been published in the Haryana Government Gazette dated June 5, on which is also the official seal of Anurag Aggarwal, the then Chief Election Officer of the state and the then Principal Secretary of the State Election Department.