High court axe falls on Indore civic polls

The Indore Municipal Corporation election suffered a setback after the Madhya Pradesh High Court quashed a government notification for expanding the municipal limit by including 29 new villages.

The Indore Municipal Corporation election suffered a setback on Tuesday after the Madhya Pradesh High Court quashed a government notification for expanding the municipal limit by including 29 new villages.

Following the 19-page judgment issued by Justice PK Jaiswal and Justice Prakash Shrivastava, Indore collector Akash Tripathi said the state election commission has stopped the process for holding polls scheduled on November 28 in the 85 wards of the civic agency. No new nomination would be accepted, he added.

The polls had landed in uncertainty after advocate Anil Trivedi challenged in a petition the process through which these villages were added to the municipality. He had argued that the final notification (dated March 4, 2014) goes against the law.

Social activist Kishore Kodwani, in a similar petition, had questioned why only 29 villages were included and not all the 90 villages as mandated by a master plan for the municipal corporation. Both sought to know the criteria that was used to "include some villages and exclude others".

After Tuesday's court order, the state government has to decide whether it wants to hold election in 85 or 69 wards. If the government decides to hold elections in 69 wards the entire voter list will have to be redone while candidates eyeing certain pockets may have to shift their focus on other wards.

The expansion of the municipal area was first notified on February 5 last year but it was cancelled a year later after Trivedi challenged it in the high court.