Poll panel order cancelling sarpanch elections junked

The Punjab and Haryana High Court has quashed the State Election Commission’s October 11 order cancelling the unopposed elections of sarpanches across five zones of Gidderbaha block in Muktsar district.

The Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Sudeepti Sharma also directed the State of Punjab and other respondents to forthwith declare the petitioner-candidates elected unopposed as sarpanch of the gram panchayats as they were the only candidate left in the fray and elected as such.

The Bench also made it clear that election tribunal would decide the matter lawfully and expeditiously, if the aggrieved parties challenged the declaration of results, particularly by filing election petitions before it.

The ruling came on a petition filed against Gurmeet Kaur and other petitioners against the election commission and other respondents through counsel Sangram S Saron and Shubreet Kaur. The Bench observed the stand taken by other candidates was that their nomination papers were improperly rejected by the returning officer. As a result of their disqualification, the petitioners were the sole candidates and consequently declared elected unopposed.

The Bench added the proper remedy for the improper rejection of nomination papers lay in filing an election petition before the election tribunal, which could have declared the elections vitiated upon sufficient proof. But the State Election Commission bypassing this procedure accepted the respondents’ claims of improper rejection and proceeded to cancel the elections through the impugned order.

The Bench observed that the State Election Commission acted without jurisdiction, as the dispute fell exclusively within the domain of the election tribunal. The commission, while issuing the impugned order, also overstepped its authority by exercising powers vested in the state government. Consequently, the impugned order passed in disregard of the prescribed legal framework stood vitiated and was required to be set aside.

Citing the provision of Punjab State Election Commission Act, the Bench asserted the returning officer was required to immediately declare the sole candidate elected unopposed, if the number of candidates contesting was less than the number of seats to be filled, or if only one candidate remained in the fray. In such scenarios, elections were not held and there was no requirement for the electorate to visit polling booths or exercise the NOTA option.