- By Kamal Kumar
- Sat, 04 Nov 2023 01:26 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Uttarakhand Nagar Nigam Chunav: The elections for urban local bodies such as Nagar Nigam, Nagar Palika and Nagar Panchayats in Uttarakhand will not be held this year, the state election commission informed the Nainital High Court in response to a notice issued by the latter. Notably, urban local bodies in Uttarakhand will complete their tenure on December 2.
While responding to a notice issued by the court on the petition of Anees, a Jaspur resident, the state election commission said that due to the delimitation and revision of electoral rolls, the elections will be postponed.
In the reply sent by the State Election Commission to the court, it said that from October 25, the government has started the delimitation of wards of 93 local bodies of the state. Amid the looming uncertainties over elections, the Uttarakhand government might install an administrator on the ULBs for the next six months.
Against the directive of the Supreme Court:
The Supreme Court, while giving its decision in Kishan Singh Tomar vs Central Government, has said that the election schedule should be declared six months before the end of the five-year tenure of the municipalities. Whereas, the constitution also stipulates a similar mandate. "If the State government dissolves the Panchayat before the end of its five-year term, fresh elections must be held within six months of such dissolution."
The response filed by the state election commission:
In its response to HC, the election commission has emphasised these two points-
1. The boundary of Harbatpur municipality in Dehradun district is to be expanded. The process of border expansion and delimitation is likely to take two months.
2. It is also likely to take two months for the boundary expansion and delimitation of Municipality Narendra Nagar and Nagar Panchayat Kirti Nagar in Tehri district.
No elections in these municipal bodies
The Commission said that Nagar Panchayat Gangotri in Uttarkashi, Nagar Panchayat Badrinath in Chamoli district and Nagar Panchayat Kedarnath in Rudraprayag are non-elected bodies in the state, elections are not held here. Apart from this, the tenure of Bazpur Municipality of Udham Singh Nagar district is ending on 25th July 2024 while the tenure of Municipal Corporation Board Roorkee in Haridwar is ending on 2nd December 2024.
Also, Nagar Panchayat Munsiyari in Pithoragarh district and Nagar Panchayat Nanda Nagar Ghat in Chamoli have become new Nagar Panchayats. The Commission will also conduct the campaign for revision of electoral rolls except in Herbertpur, Narendranagar, Rudraprayag and Bajpur.
Notice issued for revision of electoral rolls
A separate notification has been issued by the Commission for the revision of electoral rolls of Municipal Corporations Dehradun, Rishikesh, Haridwar, Kashipur, Rudrapur, Haldwani-Kathgodam, Kotdwar and Srinagar.