BY THE CHIEF EDITOR
8 May 2022, Rajagriha: Union Finance Minister Charles Burgardt and Irish Ambassador Andrew Brotherton were unopposed elect to the House of the People, the unicameral legislature of Vishwamitra from the Maligaon constituency of Purvanchal and Brikshasthana constituency of Beltola in a by-election earlier scheduled for 10 May.
By-elections was necessitated to fill vacancies on three seats of the parliament which fell vacant following the resignation of the sitting members. Former Finance and External Affairs minister Ned Vodă who represented the Maligaon seat of Beltola resigned from parliament on 31 January 2022; former Health Minister & CDS General Arturo Lara who represented Chandril seat of Kamrupa resigned on 7 February while former Prime Minister Anoushkaa Patranabish who represented the Brikshasthana seat of Beltola resigned from parliament on 18 March following her installation as the Rajpramukh of Beltola.
Charles Burgardt who is currently serving as the Minister of Finance, Law and Justice in the interim government headed by Prime Minister Farhaz Hazarika, had earlier been a member of the House of Councillors until its dissolution and is constitutionally bound to be elected to the parliament in order to continue in his ministerial position. Meanwhile, Andrew Brotherton, who was until recently, away from the politics is a first-time MP who also holds the position of the nation's ceremonial Ambassador to the Republic of Ireland. Both Burgardt and Brotherton were unopposed elect to the parliament on independent tickets, though Burgardt is a former MP who was elect earlier on an NPC sponsored ticket. He was also a member of the current parliament representing Rajagriha constituency until his election to the House of Councillors.
Both the seats of Maligaon and Brikshasthana have been held as political bastions of the nation's two most-important politicians. Rashtradhyaksh Dhrubajyoti Roy and Deputy Rashtradhyaksh Tanishkaa Patranabish, both former Prime Ministers represented the two seats respectively in the parliament during their tenures. It is also a myth that any MP who is elected from the Maligaon seat becomes a member of the cabinet or holds an equivalent prestigious position. For all of his tenures as prime minister, Dhrubajyoti Roy represented Maligaon seat and following his departure from the parliament in 2018, he was succeeded by Arnab Sil, who served on several important cabinet positions including being the Deputy Prime Minister on many occasions. The constituency was represented by Princess Asmi in the 13th Parliament and in the 14th Parliament by Ned Vodă until his resignation. Vodă served as Minister of National Development until his resignation. Following his election, Burgardt shall continue the long myth of a cabinet member only being elected from that seat.
Meanwhile, election will be held as scheduled for the third seat, that is the Chandril seat of Kamrupa in which three candidates face each other in a triangular contest. Liam Alexander, who also holds the record of being the nation's shortest serving Deputy Prime Minister with a tenure of less of eight hours faces rival candidates - Rafe Burfield, the Consul-General in Somerset and Manggala Ariff Prasetia, the Ambassador-designate to Indonesia. Alexander, who currently also serves as an Advisor to the Government and Consul-General in Barrie is also a former critic of Rashtradhyaksh Dhrubajyoti Roy and is deemed as a potential replacement to House Speaker Tyler Mullins in case of his election as Mullins is expected to re-join the cabinet. While, Burfield is also a probable cabinet pick of Prime Minister Hazarika as he unveils his third cabinet after the election.
This was also for the first time that the elections were held entirely on non-partisan basis, with candidates compulsorily needed to be independent politicians and not be sponsored by any political outfits. The parliament was earlier prorogued by Rashtradhyaksh Dhrubajyoti Roy when he initiated administrative reforms in March this year.