Opposition UDF is of the view that if local body elections are held, bypolls to Assembly constituencies can also be conducted.
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the Election Commission plans to hold bypolls to Kuttanad and Chavara Assembly constituencies in November, the Left government wants to avoid elections over such a short period.
The state government informed Opposition UDF of its stance and sought its support for the same. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan called up Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala to seek his opinion.
The UDF is, however, not very keen on the suggestion. It is of the view that if local body elections are held, bypolls to Assembly constituencies can also be conducted. The UDF meet on Tuesday discussed the matter.
The state Assembly has now only around 6-7 months before election notification for the next assembly elections is issued. Therefore even if bypolls are held, the winning candidates will get hardly 4-5 months in power. Byelections will also have to be held following the Covid-19 protocol.
Keeping such things in mind, the government plans to approach the Election Commission seeking to skip the byelection. The LDF government wanted all political parties in the state to jointly approach the Election Commission and raise such a demand. That is why it had sought the Opposition’s opinion in this regard.
The UDF, however, wants local body elections to be postponed in view of the Covid scenario. In such a scenario, local body elections can be postponed and byelections can be avoided. The Opposition will soon inform the government about its decision.