HC vacates stay on Panchayat polls, schedule to be carried forward by three days

PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Nainital

The Uttarakhand High Court has vacated the stay it had earlier imposed on the three-tier Panchayat election process in the State. The stay was vacated on Friday by the HC bench headed by Chief Justice G Narendar after hearing petitions against the new reservation roster implemented by the State government for the Panchayat polls. The court also directed the State Election Commission to move forward the scheduled procedure for the polls by three days while issuing the revised election schedule. The State government was also directed to submit its response within three days to the issues raised by the petitioners in the court.

During the hearing on Friday, the petitioners also raised questions regarding reservation for the seats of block Pramukhs and district Panchayat chairpersons. One of the petitioners informed the court that 63 per cent seats of Gram Pradhans in the Doiwala block of Dehradun district have been reserved. The petitioners submitted to the bench of Chief Justice Narendar and Justice Alok Mahra that in the reservation roster, a particular section alone has been getting representation for a long time on a number of seats. They contended that this was against article 243 of the Constitution and orders given by the Supreme Court from time to time.