HP govt moves SC against HC order to hold Panchayat polls by April 30

Shimla: Escalating the stalemate, the Himachal Pradesh government has moved the Supreme Court against the High Court’s directive to conduct Panchayat elections by April 30.

Confirming this, the state’s advocate general, Anoop Rattan, said a Special Leave Petition has been filed in the apex court regarding this, which will now be listed for the hearing.

Rattan said that after releasing the roster, different opinions of the division bench have come to the fore regarding the objections relating to the roster.

The SLP has been filed in the Supreme Court mainly on two points. First, the division bench of the High Court has given only four days to the state government to release the roster of Panchayat election institutions, which is not logical and fair. While another bench has given three months to hear the objections after releasing the roster in 2021.

The state government, for a long time, has been asserting in the High Court that elections can’t be conducted in the state due to the Disaster Management Act 2005 which has been in force since the monsoon calamities happened in Himachal Pradesh. This is the second important point, which has again been raised in the Supreme Court.

The tenure of 3,650 Panchayati institutions bodies has ended on January 31.

The Panchayati Raj Act states that fresh elections should be held within six months after the end of the tenure.