NEW DELHI: Election Commission has finally decided not to conduct bypolls to Kuttanad and Chavara. The Election Commission has accepted the state govt’s plea to scrap the polls. By-polls were necessitated in these constituencies with the demise of Thomas Chandy and Vijayan Pillai. However, in the wake of rapid transmission of Covid-19 pandemic the poll panel finally accepted the joint plea of the government and other political parties in the state to cancel the by-polls.

The decision was taken following a meet at the Delhi headquarters of the poll panel. Earlier the panel has decided to conduct the by-polls along with the assembly elections in Bihar. But the by-polls were finally put off considering the dangerous levels of Covid-19 transmission in the state.

The central poll panel has also sought the opinion of officials in the state election commission. Poll panel considered the fact that even if by-polls are conducted MLAs would get only 6 months time as the next assembly polls in Kerala would be held in 2021 and given the rapid spread of the pandemic it was better to cancel the polls.