'Very Strange': SC On Unopposed Election Of 3,000 Panchayat Members In Punjab

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday termed as “very strange” the fact that 3,000 out of 13,000 panchayat office bearers were elected unopposed in recently held polls in Punjab and permitted aggrieved candidates to file election petitions. A bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, which had earlier issued notices on a plea alleging rejection of nomination papers of many candidates and other electoral malpractices, said that the aggrieved persons can file election petitions before the election tribunal which has to decide them in six months.

The top court said the candidates whose nomination papers were rejected or torn can also approach the Punjab and Haryana High Court with their grievances and their pleas cannot be rejected on the grounds of violation of the limitation period. The CJI said the petitions have to be dealt with on merits.

“We permit the petitioner to file election petitions. The state election commission will decide the petitions within six months, in case of delay petitioners can approach the high court,” the order said. “In cases where the nominations were rejected or papers torn, they can move review petitions before the high court to be considered as per law… It is the right of petitioners to move this court in case their petitions in the high court are dismissed,” the order added.

During a brief hearing, the CJI expressed shock when the court was apprised that 3,000 odd posts in panchayat posts, out of over 13000, were elected unopposed. “This is very strange! I have never seen such figures… These are significant numbers,” the CJI said. One of the lawyers claimed that the symbol of a candidate was removed during the elections.

The top court also expressed surprise that hundreds of petitions were dismissed by the high court without affording proper hearing to the affected parties. The bench, on October 18, issued notice on the plea filed by Sunita Rani and others alleging irregularities in the conduct of the Panchayat polls held on October 15.

Another bench headed by the then CJI D Y Chandrachud, since retired, on October 15, the polling day, refused to stay the ongoing panchayat polls on grounds of alleged irregularities in the nomination process, saying there will be "chaos" if courts start staying the process on the election day. Prior to that, the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed around 1,000 petitions challenging the panchayat elections on the grounds of alleged arbitrary rejection of nomination papers filed by the candidates.

The high court had ordered videography of the elections and made clear that no party symbol would be used. Some of the petitioners, belonging to the Scheduled Caste category, claimed that they had gone to Jalalabad to file nomination papers for the panchayat polls but they were assaulted by supporters of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party and prevented from filing the same.

Opposition parties have accused the AAP government of arbitrarily cancelling the nominations of candidates associated with them. With a total of 13,937 gram panchayats in the state, approximately 13.3 million voters participated in the elections.