The Hindu : Front Page : Court stays urban local body polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 08, 2007
ePaper

Front Page

Front Page

Court stays urban local body polls

Staff Reporter

Poll panel told to schedule the polls before September end

Rains and floods could come in the way of voter turnout, says Advocate-General
Postponement by a month will not cause serious prejudice, says High Court

BANGALORE: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday stayed two notifications by the State Election Commission (SEC) ordering holding of elections to 207 urban local bodies (ULB) and directed it to fix a fresh calendar of events for holding the elections in the last week of September.

In an interim order, the court directed the SEC to ensure that the date of polling was not fixed beyond September 30. With this order, the SEC notification on holding elections on August 30 stands stayed.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice Rammohan Reddy passed the order on a public interest litigation (PIL) petition by Pradeep Balaram and others of Haliyal, Puttur, Koppal and other areas of Dakshina Kannada, Uttara Kannada and Shimoga districts.

The petitioners had urged the court to quash the two notifications, citing heavy rains and flood situation in several districts of north Karnataka. They said the voter turnout would be poor as the rains were likely to continue in August and September.

Moreover, the Central Election Commission (CEC) had notified the SEC about its intention to issue a list of revised electoral rolls and elections could be held on the basis of the new list.

Senior counsel Jayakumar S. Patil, who appeared for the petitioners, submitted that except Madikeri and Hosanagara urban local bodies, the SEC had issued the notifications for all.

Advocate-General Uday Holla said rains and floods would come in the way of voters exercising their franchise if the elections were held as per the SEC schedule.

He said when the dates were debated in the Legislative Assembly, members of all political parties had sought for a change in the dates for the election. He suggested that the court could fix fresh dates either during September end or October.

Festival

The current date announced by the SEC would clash with a festival celebrated by a community during which clashes had become common. The police would be hard pressed to provide security for the elections.

Opposing the petition, K.N. Phanindra, appearing for the SEC, said courts could not take up cases when the process of elections was underway. He said in April this year, the State had cited drought to postpone the elections. Now, it was saying that rains and floods would affect the voter turnout.

He said a single judge and a Division Bench had asked the State not to seek more time to complete the process of redoing the reservation of posts to urban local bodies.

The Chief Justice remarked that all political parties wanted the elections to be postponed.

“If the bride and the bridegroom do not want to get married, what can the priest do?” he asked amidst laughter.

In their order, the Bench said: “It found force in the State’s contention that it would be difficult for voters if elections are held as per the SEC dates and that it would be better in administrative and public interest if the elections are postponed”.

The Bench said it had decided “to postpone the elections” as the election notification by the deputy commissioners had not been issued.

Elections to urban local bodies had been considerably delayed and postponement for a month could not cause serious prejudice.

It then stayed the operation of the two notifications and directed the SEC to fix a fresh calendar of events so as to hold elections in the last week of September.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page