Notify municipal polls in 15 days, SC tells Punjab

The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Punjab Government and the State Election Commission (SEC) to notify municipality elections in the state in 15 days and complete the entire process in eight weeks from the notification.

While hearing the Punjab Government's petition challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s October 19 order to notify elections in all Municipalities and Municipal Corporations within 15 days without conducting fresh exercise of delimitation, a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan partially modified the order.

It noted that the state government's reliance on the pending delimitation process was misplaced, as there were no significant changes in population or municipal boundaries.

Extending the time for holding municipal elections, the Bench said the state was at liberty to request the High Court to defer the contempt proceedings.

In its October 19 order, the high court had asked the Punjab Government/SEC to notify poll schedules for five Municipal Corporations and 42 municipal councils/nagar panchayats within 15 days. The elections for municipal corporations of Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Phagwara and Ludhiana had been pending for two years.

Represented by senior counsel AM Singhvi and Punjab Advocate General Gurminder Singh, the Punjab Government wanted to delay Municipalities/Municipal Councils/Municipal Corporations/Nagar Panchayats elections on account of pending exercise for delimitation of wards for which it needed 16 weeks.

However, the Bench said, “No question of delimitation. We don't want to say anything today; otherwise you will invite strictures against you (Punjab Government). You first go and hold the elections. There are two Supreme Court judgments against you. Law mandates that you start the process before expiry of the term."

“For panchayat polls you are very keen but for municipalities you want to delay on some pretext or the other," Justice Kant said.

The Bench reminded the state government of its obligations under Article 243U(3) of the Constitution which mandated that an election to constitute a Municipality shall be completed before the expiry of its five-year duration or before the expiration of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution.

Earlier, citing Articles 243E and 243U of the Constitution on Panchayats and Municipalities; and judicial precedents, the high court had said that the delimitation process can’t be a ground to delay the election process.

"The constitutional mandate requires that elections to constitute a Municipality shall be held before the expiration of a period of six months from the date of its dissolution as per Article 243U (3)(b). According to this mandate, elections to the Municipalities must be completed before the end of their five-year term", the high court had noted.