Legal opinion sought on holding civic body polls
The Local Government Department has sought legal opinion from the office of the Advocate General (AG) regarding issues pertaining to the conduct of elections to the municipal corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Phagwara, Ludhiana and Patiala, besides 42 municipal councils or nagar panchayats. The file related to the election schedule has also been reportedly sent to the CM for approval.
In the light of a recent Punjab and Haryana High Court order to initiate the process of holding municipal elections within 15 days without conducting fresh delimitation of wards, certain clarifications were required from the AG office, officials said.
“The court has stayed delimitation in certain cases, while the exercise is in progress in other cases. Delimitation boards have been constituted for 44 out of 47 municipalities. A detailed note has been sent to the state government for necessary action,” said the officials.
The term of the Phagwara MC ended in March 2020 and that of the other MCs in 2023. As per rules, elections must be held within six months from the date of the dissolution of a municipality.
