New Delhi | The Election Commission will "preferably" hold 47 bypolls due in one go, Chief Election Rajiv Kumar said on Friday, stressing that these cannot be held immediately due to the weather condition prevailing in various states, including the landslide in Kerala's Wayanad.
Responding to a question on when the poll panel plans to hold bypolls -- 46 to the state assemblies and one to the Lok Sabha -- Kumar said there are some states where the bypolls cannot be held due to the prevailing weather conditions.
Referring to Wayanad, he said the Lok Sabha bypoll cannot be held there immediately due to the landslides.
The seat fell vacant after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi resigned from there while retaining Rae Bareli.
Kumar said the flood situation continues in states such as Bihar and Assam.
"We will hold all (the bypolls) together and well within six months (the period in which vacancies are to be filled as per law). We are waiting for the weather conditions to improve," he said.
The CEC said that Election Commission would want people to settle and have a breather after the calamity.
He said the elections would be held "preferably" together else questions would be raised about holding the bypolls separately.
In Uttar Pradesh, the bypolls are due in 10 constituencies.
Nine of the 10 assembly seats fell vacant as the sitting MLAs were elected to the Lower House of Parliament in the recently-concluded Lok Sabha elections while the Sisamau seat fell vacant following the conviction of SP MLA Irfan Solanki in a criminal case. He now stands disqualified.
