By-election for Allagadda assembly seat

Ms Nagireddy, 45, was critically injured after the car in which she was returning after campaigning last night swerved and overturned. She was sitting in the front seat and was thrown out of the car.

She died in a hospital in Hyderabad today of severe head injuries.

Ms Nagireddy was contesting from the Allagadda assembly seat in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, from where she had been elected four times. A mother of three children, she joined politics in 1996. She had been in Chandrababu Naidu's TDP and Chiranjeevi's Praja Rajyam Party earlier.

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A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections.

Usually, a by-election occurs when the incumbent has died or resigned. It may also occur when the incumbent becomes ineligible to continue in office, for example because of a recall, ennoblement, a serious criminal conviction, failure to maintain a minimum attendance, bankruptcy or mental incapacity. 

By-elections have also been called as a result of a constituency election being invalidated by voting irregularities; see Oldham East and Saddleworth election petition.

Historically, members of some parliaments were required to seek re-election upon being appointed to a ministerial post. The subsequent by-elections were termed "ministerial by-elections". These by-elections were usually a formality as they were normally, but not always, uncontested by opposition parties. The requirement for Members of Parliament (MPs) to resign their seats and re-offer upon being appointed to Cabinet was done away with as an anachronism in most Westminster systems by the mid-20th century.

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It is so sad. A human being died; but we are talking about by-election. 

That is the current reality of humanity.

Death is no longer a sad news. It is considered as an opportunity for others to become a MP.

In software, this kind of unexpected events are considered as corner case or exceptions. We need to take care of these exceptional situations too.

We cannot ignore this case. If we continue the election in this constituency in the usual way; just by ignoring this death; that is not the right thing.

It should be considered as this dead has already been elected as an MP; so, we need to follow the by-election process.

For now, cancel the election for this constituency as a respect for the dead.

Then, later call for a fresh election in this constituency.

Otherwise, our politicians may start misusing this situation. They may involve in killing candidates; or even set the stage for accident and cause death to other candidates.

One cannot be declared, just because all others are dead.