The Hindu : Karnataka News : Notifications on local body elections in Karnataka stayed

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Wednesday, Aug 08, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Notifications on local body elections in Karnataka stayed

Staff Reporter

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).

It 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 after 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.

Electoral rolls

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.

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