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Municipal bodies polls: Punjab and Haryana HC gives two weeks to state poll chief to draw schedule
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday gave two weeks to Punjab state election commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhuri to draw poll schedule for vacant seats in all the municipal bodies.
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Tuesday gave two weeks to Punjab state election commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhuri to draw poll schedule for vacant seats in all the municipal bodies.
The high court bench of justices Sureshwar Thakur and Kuldeep Tiwari directed Chaudhari to forthwith draw a schedule in respect of the impending elections to the vacant seats of sarpanches also. The court further added that after the schedule is drawn, notification for the same be issued. The plea was filed by one Ajit Singh from Ludhiana, who had alleged elections for grassroots democracy were kept pending by the state. The plea was pending since March 2022. Due to the delay in the appointment of the state election commissioner, the polls were pending.
For months now, the government was seeking time in court to appoint the commissioner but had failed to take a decision. On February 20, had directed that if notification on the appointment was not placed on record on February 28, the chief secretary would personally have to appear before the court, to explain the delay in the issuance of notification. The notification was placed on record on Tuesday, and in view of the appointment, the court has disposed of the plea with directions to the newly appointed commissioner that a poll schedule be drawn up.
