Bypolls in India should be banned. A By-poll (occasionally also spelled 'bye-election', and known in the United States as a special election) is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections.
Our politicians give up with elected seat with absolutely no respect to the voters who voted them in. In Dec 2008 Karnataka held bypolls as many sitting MLAs from Congress switched over to BJP (Operation Lotus). Rumours said the bypoll costed each candidate about Rs 25 crore. The Election Commission (EC) allows you to spend Rs 25 lakh officially. It is high time EC increases the official budget to Rs 25 crore directly.
India will hold its
General Election in Apr/May 2009. Reports say candidates in popular constituencies will need to spend a whopping Rs 50 crore.
EC should ban bypoll. If a candidate surrenders his/her seat then the runner up should be declared the winner provided the winner doesn't join the party to which the runner up belongs to. To explain it in clear terms, if Congress had won the seat and BJP candidate was the runner up, then the BJP candidate can be declared the winner provided the victorious candidate (Congress) is not joining BJP.
EC should not allow candidates standing from multiple constituencies. If they win from both constituencies then a bypoll needs to held in one at govt's expense. If the EC cannot enforce this rule, the runner up of the seat they are surrendering should be declared the winner. This way candidates will think twice before standing from multiple constituencies.
We see few sitting MLAs contesting for a MP seat (or vice versa). If they win, then they will surrender the MLA seat. Preferably the EC shouldn't allow a sitting MLA to contest for a MP seat. If they cannot enforce this rule, the runner up of the seat they are surrendering should be declared the winner.
In India, you need to be an elected member (MP - from Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha) to be a cabinet minister. In the US it is contrary, a sitting Senate Member is not in the cabinet.
After Hillary Clinton was sworn in as the Secretary of State in Obama's cabinet her Senate seat (New York) fell vacant. The New York Governor, David Paterson, had the power to select the replacement of Hillary Clinton. So, if we had this rule in India, the Governor of the state in which the seat fell vacant, would have had the power to choose the replacement of the MP.
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