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Siswa municipality exempted from polls after SC ruling
The commission challenged the high court’s order in the Supreme Court, which rejected its appeal and restored the HC’s decision.
On the December 12 directives of the Supreme Court, the Siswa municipality in Maharajganj district will not be taking part in the upcoming urban local body polls, as the tenure of its current body is yet to finish.
Constituted in early 2022, elections for members and the chairperson of the new municipality were held by the state election commission in March.
Challenging the commission’s decision to call it a ‘byelection’, Siswa newly-elected chairman Shakuntala Jaiswal filed public interest litigation in the high court stating that the new members had already been elected in March and the tenure of the current office-bearers would end in March 2027. The court had ruled in favour of the mayor.
The commission challenged the high court’s order in the Supreme Court, which rejected its appeal and restored the HC’s decision.
As the news reached here on Tuesday, all 25 elected corporators and the chairman celebrated the decision. A few days ago, the commission had issued a notification calling off the elections in the Siswa municipality as the matter was pending in court.
Meanwhile, other town areas and municipal corporations still awaited formal announcement of the dates for the civic polls. Speculations were high that the dates might be announced any time after December 15. Abdur Rahman
