No stay on panchayat polls, to be held as scheduled: HC

The panchayat elections in the state will be held as per the schedule, as the Uttarakhand high court on Monday clarified that it has not issued any stay order on the ongoing electoral process. This comes as a major relief to the State Election Commission (SEC), which had approached the court seeking clarity on its earlier directive.

- HT Correspondent

The SEC on Monday filed a stay vacation application before a division bench headed by chief justice G Narender and justice ‘Alok Mahra, stating that the July Il order led to uncertainty regarding the conduct of elections.

The commission urged the court to lift the stay.

Sanjay Bhatt, representing the SEC in the matter, said that the bench has clarified that no stay had been imposed on the panchayat election process itself.

“The court said it had stayed specifically the July 6 letter issued by the commission to the Chamoli district magistrate,” he said.

He further said the court's clarification allowed the commission to resume the process of allotting election symbols, which had been halted temporarily on Monday till 2 pm due to the court's July Il order. He said the matter was mentioned before the court on Monday.

He said following the HC’s clarification, the SEC resumed the process of allotting election symbols at 2 pm. A revised notification was issued by the commission stating that the allocation of symbols would continue until 6 pm on Monday and resume on Tuesday as well, he said.