The Punjab and Haryana high court has questioned the Punjab government for not holding the elections of panchayats and local bodies despite the term of the same being over.
The high court bench of chief justice Sheel Nagu and justice Anil Kshetarpal has asked the state’s chief secretary to file an affidavit explaining, “As to why no elections were held to the municipal councils as well as municipal corporations in Punjab despite there being a constitutional mandate. ?”
The court was hearing a clutch of petitions, including one from Beant Kumar, a resident of Malerkotla, which demanded immediate high court intervention. The plea said there are a few councils in the state where elections have been pending for over three years. In the plea, the petitioner has listed 42 councils and five municipal corporations of Phagwara, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar and Ludhiana, where the five-year term is over.
The court observed that in spite of the term of the last municipal councils as well as municipal corporations in the state having expired in December 2022 and January 2023, respectively, no elections have been held to date despite there being a clear mandate in the Constitution of India as well as in the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976 for holding elections before the expiry of the term of the elected body in municipalities.
During the hearing state’s counsel had stated that the Supreme Court had not granted any stay in the state’s favor on the pleas in which the high court order on delimitation exercise initiated by the state has been challenged.
The bench recorded that the state government did not even care to file the response to petitions even as the matter pending before the apex court had not been stayed.
It was in October 2023 that the high court declared the delimitation exercise in the municipal corporation, Phagwara, and municipal councils of Dera Baba Nanak and Dharamkot illegal and had set aside the state government notifications for the same.
“Neither there is any alteration in the municipal limits nor there is any increase in the population. As such, the entire exercise is a nullity and suffers from incurable defect. The respondents have completely departed from the procedure prescribed under the Rules of 1972 by creating tailor-made wards only suitable to a few to ensure their success in elections, which has resulted in disturbing the level playing field to give undue advantage to a select few, ” the court had recorded. However, this order was challenged by the state government in the apex court.
“In view of the above, it is surprising that no elections have been held till date at the municipal council as well as municipal corporation level thereby permitting unelected representatives to run the show,” the bench observed, seeking an affidavit from the state’s chief secretary. by September 23.
