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‘Violations’ during Dec 2024 poll: SC orders fresh elections in 50 Punjab civic wards
The order, passed on September 28 and uploaded on Wednesday, covers 28 wards of the Patiala municipal corporation, all 15 wards of the Baghapurana municipal council and seven wards of the Dharamkot municipal council
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The Supreme Court has ordered fresh elections in 50 municipal wards in Patiala and Moga districts, holding that the electoral process in these wards was vitiated by widespread obstruction during the nomination process, including preventing opposition candidates from contesting.
The order, passed on September 28 and uploaded on Wednesday, covers 28 wards of the Patiala municipal corporation, all 15 wards of the Baghapurana municipal council and seven wards of the Dharamkot municipal council.
The re-election process must be completed within six weeks, with the entire exercise placed under an unprecedented judicial monitoring mechanism, the SC said.
The Supreme Court accepted the report of a fact-finding commission headed by former Punjab and Haryana high court judge justice Nirmaljit Kaur, which was appointed by the court in March 2025 to examine allegations arising from the December 2024 municipal elections.
The commission examined 46 claim petitions filed by 85 claimants and considered affidavits, official replies, CCTV and video footage, photographs, voter records and statements of election, police and civil officials, observers and claimants.
The petitioners, belonging to different national and state political parties, alleged they were prevented from filing nominations through assault, intimidation and the snatching or tearing of nomination papers. They had also alleged that the nomination process was not videographed despite the high court’s directions.
Elections in 28 Patiala wards vitiated
In Patiala, the commission found elections in 13 wards — 1, 12, 32, 33, 36, 41, 43, 44, 45, 48, 50, 51 and 52 — were vitiated after finding that opposition candidates had been prevented from filing nominations.
Another 14 wards — 4, 6, 14, 16, 22, 26, 28, 37, 38, 40, 46, 53, 55 and 57 — were found vitiated because particular opposition candidates were forcibly excluded from contesting, although the commission could not determine whether their participation would have altered the results.
Polls to Ward 34 were also vitiated after candidate Gaurav Kumar was prevented from filing his nomination.
The commission additionally found serious evidence of bogus or multiple voting and intimidation in wards 15 and 58, sufficient to question the fairness of those elections, though it did not conclude that the irregularities necessarily changed the results. Allegations relating to wards 7, 18 and 19 were not proved for want of evidence.
Entire Baghapurana poll set aside
The findings were particularly sweeping in Baghapurana, where the commission held the elections in all 15 wards vitiated, finding that opposition candidates were systematically prevented from filing nominations.
In Dharamkot, elections in wards 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 9 and 13 were found vitiated because of forcible prevention of nominations, coercive withdrawal or wrongful rejection.
The commission identified 50 ward elections as vitiated — 28 in Patiala district and 22 in Moga district. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Punjab, told the Supreme Court that the state had no objection to accepting the commission’s recommendations. The court then ordered fresh elections in all 50 wards.
Polls to be conducted under judicial watch
The Supreme Court has imposed stringent safeguards for the fresh elections. The chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court has been asked to constitute, within a week, a monitoring committee headed by a retired high court judge. The election schedule can be notified only after the committee is constituted.
Two or three senior members of the High Court Bar will act as observers. Filing and scrutiny of nominations, allocation of symbols and polling will be videographed in their presence, with recordings preserved and submitted to the monitoring committee.
The Punjab government must furnish ward-wise details of election officials and police officers of DSP-rank and above deployed for the exercise. Complaints of interference or obstruction by anyone, including officials, can be made to the monitoring committee, which can refer substantiated complaints to the High Court Chief Justice for judicial action.
The results will not be declared merely after counting. The chief justice of the high court must first be satisfied, based on the monitoring committee’s report, that the elections were conducted in a free and fair manner. Only then can the results be declared. The Punjab government will bear the committee’s and observers’ expenses and provide logistical, transport, security and secretarial support.
The Supreme Court clarified that the directions were issued in the peculiar facts of these cases and would not constitute a precedent for future byelections. It also placed on record its appreciation of justice Nirmaljit Kaur for her “remarkable diligence and objectivity” in examining the extensive oral, documentary and video evidence.
