Next hearing of Amritsar civic body elections case on March 21

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, February 6

The next date of hearing in the case related to the delay in holding municipal corporation (MC) polls has been fixed as March 21 by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

A local resident has knocked the door of the High Court raising questions over the delay in holding the MC elections even after the end of the tenure of its House. A fresh notice has been issued by the High Court to the Punjab Government and the Election Commission to file reply in this regard.

Prabodh Chandra Bali, an RTI activist from the city, filed a petition in the High Court regarding elections not being conducted even after the completion of the tenure of municipal corporation Houses in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar and Phagwara.

The petition stated that it was mandatory to hold elections before the completion of the tenure of the House of the MCs in January 2023.

“Under Article 249-U of the Constitution of India and Section 7 of the Punjab Municipal Corporations Act, the elections should be held before the civic body General House is dissolved. By not conducting elections, the state government has deprived voters of their valuable democratic rights for one year. The State Election Commission has not yet notified the schedule for holding the MC elections,” said the RTI activist.

Today’s hearing is considered important as the court has sought reply from the state government in this regard after which the whole situation would become clear.

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