Nainital: Uttarakhand High Court heard the PIL filed regarding not conducting municipal elections in the state on time. The division bench of Chief Justice Ritu Bahri and Justice Rakesh Thapliyal asked the state government what plan was presented to conduct municipal elections on the previous order, on which Additional Secretary Urban Development Nitin Bhadauria informed on behalf of the state government that the State Election Commissioner will be appointed in the last week of August or the first week of September and the municipal elections will be completed by October 25. Actually, earlier the court had asked to tell by when the state will appoint the Election Commissioner and by when the municipal elections will be completed.
Advocate General SN Babulkar presented the side of the state government
At the hearing held today, Advocate General SN Babulkar informed the court on behalf of the state government that the municipal elections could not be held in the state within the stipulated time due to the Lok Sabha elections, because the state administration was busy in conducting the Lok Sabha elections. After that the rain started, due to which half the administration is busy in the disaster. Now the government is ready to conduct civic elections before October 25.
The tenure of all the bodies ended in December 2023
The State Election Commission said that the tenure of all the bodies ended in December 2023. The government appointed its administrators for six months to run it, whose tenure now ended in June 2024. The state government extended the tenure again by not holding elections. Now the government has announced many municipal corporations and nagar panchayats after 8 months of the term of the bodies ending, which can create many problems for the Election Commission, whereas this process was to be done 6 months before December 2023.
Mohammad Anwar had filed a petition
According to the case, Jaspur resident Mohammad Anwar filed a PIL in the High Court saying that the tenure of municipalities and municipal bodies ended in December, but eight months have passed since the term ended, yet the government has not announced the program for holding elections, on the contrary, it extended the tenure of its administrators in the bodies.
People are facing problems due to the appointment of administrators. Due to the appointment of administrators, the common people are facing many difficulties. Administrator is appointed when a body is dissolved. Even in that situation, it is necessary for the government to conduct elections within six months, here it is the opposite. The bodies have completed their tenure, but till now the program for conducting elections has not been announced and neither has the government followed the order of the court, so the government should be directed again to conduct elections of the bodies soon. The petitioner says that according to the Constitution, under the rights given to them, the state, delimitation reservation, and others had to be investigated 6 months before the end of the term of the bodies, which was not done. Even after the state government repeatedly gave such statements in the court, elections were not held. Twice the state government has given a statement to hold elections earlier.
