There’ll be chaos: Supreme Court refuses to stay election

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the ongoing panchayat elections in Punjab, saying there would be chaos if courts stayed elections on polling day. The polling to elect around 13,000 panchayats through ballot papers in Punjab began at...

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, Updated At : 05:45 AM Oct 16, 2024 IST

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the ongoing panchayat elections in Punjab, saying there would be chaos if courts stayed elections on polling day. - File photo

The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the ongoing panchayat elections in Punjab, saying there would be chaos if courts stayed elections on polling day.

The polling to elect around 13,000 panchayats through ballot papers in Punjab began at 8 am and concluded at 4 pm on Tuesday. The elections will decide the fate of approximately 1.05 lakh candidates.

“There will be chaos if we stay the polling that too on polling day,” a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud said after a petition seeking to stay the panchayat poll was mentioned for urgent hearing.

“If polling has started today, how can we intervene at this stage? Probably the high court realised the gravity of it and vacated the stay on the elections…If polling has started today, how can we intervene at this stage?” it said.