10. [ Filling of casual vacancies. - (1) When the office of a member of the Council becomes vacant by his resignation or death or under subsection (2) of section 4 or sub-section (1) of section 9,-] [Section 10 substituted by West Bengal Act 16 of 1954.]
(a)if such member was nominated under clause (a) of sub-section (1) of section 4, a new member shall be nominated by the State Government within two months of the vacancy;(b)if such member was elected under clause (b), clause (c) [or clause (g)] [Words, letter and brackets substituted for the words, letter and brackets 'or clause (d)' by West Bengal Act 36 of 1989.] of sub-section (1) of section 4, a new member shall be elected within two months of the vacancy in the manner provided in such clause;(c)if such member was elected under [clause (h)] [Word, letter and brackets substituted for the word, letter and brackets 'clause (e)' by West Bengal Act 36 of 1989.] of sub-section (1) of section 4, the candidate who secured at the election the maximum number of votes among candidates excepting all members, who were elected under that clause, shall, if not disqualified under section 6, be deemed to have been elected in the place of such member:Provided that-(i)where there are several candidate who secured such maximum number of votes, such one of them, as may be elected by lot in accordance with rule made in this behalf under section 33, shall be deemed to have been elected;[* * * * * *] [[Clause (ii) omitted by West Bengal Act 16 of 1954, which was as under:-'(ii) If the member whose place becomes vacant was a Graduate or a Licentiate in medicine of the University of Calcutta, then in deciding which candidate secured such maximum number of votes, a candidate who is not a Graduate or a Licentiate in medicine of such University shall be excluded;'.]](iii)[ if the candidate, who is elected or would otherwise have been deemed to have been elected under this clause, is dead or refuses to serve as a member of the Council, the candidate who secured the next highest number of votes shall be declared elected in the vacancy caused by such death or refusal.] [[Clause (iii) substituted by West Bengal Act 36 of 1989, which was earlier as under:-'(iii) if the candidate, who would otherwise have been deemed to have been elected under this clause, is dead or refuses to serve as a member, a bye-election shall be held in the manner provided in clause (e) of sub-section (1) of section 4 to fill the vacancy.']]Explanation. - A candidate elected under this clause shall be deemed to have vacated his seat if he refuses in writing to serve as a member of this Council.(2)The term of office of a member, nominated or elected or deemed to have been elected, under sub-section (1), shall commence on such date as may be notified in this behalf by the State Government in the Official Gazette and shall continue for so long as the member whose place he fills would have been entitled to hold office if the vacancy had not occurred.(3)No act of the Council or of any Committee of the Council or of their members shall be deemed to be invalid by reason only that the number of members in the Council at the time of the performance of such act was less than the number provided by section 4.
