AAP moves Supreme Court against Centre over delay in Delhi civic polls

The petition in this regard has named only the SEC as a party and sought a direction to hold the elections before the expiry of the terms of Delhi’s three municipal corporations.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday moved Supreme Court against the “flagrant meddling” of the Centre in the conduct of the municipal polls in Delhi using “brazen influence” over the State Election Commission (SEC) to postpone the elections due next month.

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) workers hang a banner in protest against the deferment of civic body polls, in New Delhi. (PTI Photo)

The petition in this regard has named only the SEC as a party and sought a direction to hold the elections before the expiry of the terms of Delhi’s three municipal corporations. “The brazen influence of the government of India over the state election commission and its flagrant meddling with the conduct of municipal elections forms the subject matter of this writ petition.”

The SEC on March 9 announced a press conference to declare the poll schedule for the municipal elections in April. Within 30 minutes, the SEC withdrew a press note and issued a fresh one postponing the announcement of the schedule. SEC cited a communication from the office of the Delhi Lieutenant Governor conveying the Centre’s plan for legislation to merge the corporations.

The petition filed by advocate Shadan Farasat said such “arbitrary and sudden change in an election schedule solely on the say of the Government is a clear violation of the fundamental democratic tenet of impartial conduct of elections”. It added by being the “sole reason behind the delay of the municipal elections, the Government of India is very evidently making attempts to buckle the independence of the SEC and stultify free and fair municipal elections in Delhi”.

The petition said there has been no Cabinet decision or any legislative agenda for tabling a bill regarding the unification of the civic bodies during the ongoing Budget session of the Parliament. “Such insufficient reasons to postpone elections, rendering the conduct of timely elections before the expiry of the constitutionally mandated duration of the Municipal Corporations effectively impossible, clearly hamper with the sanctity of impartial elections and must be immediately stemmed by this Court.”

The petition pointed to the law governing elections of municipal bodies. It added Article 243U of the Constitution mandates a five-year tenure for local bodies. “This rule has been codified under Section 4 of the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act 1957. It was to fulfil this mandate the Delhi state election commission declared on March 9 its intent to hold general election to the three municipal bodies in the Capital.”

It added the subsequent decision to put the elections on hold came on an “unofficial communication”. The petition said the SEC carries the same power as the Election Commission of India and is constitutionally established to be “independent of the political caprices of the state”.

“Such independence has been hailed as one of the touchstones of free, fair and impartial elections, and ultimately a functioning democracy by the top court in several decisions.”

The petition questioned whether the SEC can take such an “arbitrary decision” to postpone the local body elections solely on the basis of unofficial communication from the Centre. It sought the court’s direction to the SEC “to expeditiously conduct the municipal elections in Delhi as per their initial proposal, in a free and fair manner”.