Declaration of results

Question before the High Court was whether there should be clear 120 days between the polling date for bye-elections and the date of expiry of Assemblies; or did the period of 120 days as stipulated under Art.224(4) began from the time of occurrence of the vacancy of the seat for which bye-election was to be held

Held, that Art.224(4) of the Constitution clearly stated that the period of 120 days started from the date of occurrence of vacancy

Minimum period of 120 days was required between the date of occurrence of vacancy and the date of expiry of the term of the Assembly and therefore, if a general seat fell vacant when the time between the date of occurrence of vacancy and the date of expiry of term of Assembly was less than 120 days, in such a situation, bye-elections could not be held under Art.224(4) of the Constitution

Hypothetically in a situation where the seat fell vacant on the 120th day before the date of expiry of the Assembly, under Art.224(4) of the Constitution bye-elections had to be held within sixty (60) days from the occurrence of the vacancy; and if the "election" was to cover the entire process culminating in a candidate being elected, the remaining period of 60 days was available for the returned candidate to sit in the Assembly and represent the constituency ; however, a closer look at Arts.224(1) & 224(2) of the Constitution read with S.42 of the Representation of the People Act, 1976 showed that the term "election" did not include the time spent in the announcement of the election result for which an extra period of 14 days had been envisaged and therefore, a period of 74 days (60 plus 14 days) was spent on electing a candidate against a vacant seat and the remaining period for the returned candidate to sit in the Assembly and represent his constituency was therefore, reduced to 46 days (which was 120 days minus 74 days)

Constitutional mandate under Art.224(4) of the Constitution appeared to be that unless Forty-Six (46) days or more were available for a candidate to sit in the Assembly, bye-elections could not be held

Argument that 120 days must exist between the polling date and date when the term of the Assemblies expired, was fallacious and did not flow form the Constitution.