The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the ongoing Panchayat elections in Punjab. The SC said that if the courts start staying the elections on the voting day, there will be chaos. Voting for Panchayat elections began at 8 am on Tuesday in the state. The petitions seeking a stay on them were listed before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud. Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra were also included in the bench.
The bench said, ‘If voting has started today then how can we intervene at this stage? Probably the High Court would have realized its seriousness and lifted the ban on elections. The CJI said that if we ban voting on the day itself, it will create anarchy. However, the Supreme Court agreed to hear petitions challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s decision allowing panchayat elections in Punjab.
High Court rejected 1 thousand petitions
In a significant judgment, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had recently rejected nearly 1,000 petitions requesting cancellation of the Panchayat elections. Earlier the High Court had put a stay on the election process. Voting for Gram Panchayat elections in Punjab is being held on Tuesday amid tight security. Voting for the posts of Sarpanch and Panch began at 8 am through ballot boxes and will continue till 4 pm, officials said. After voting, the votes will be counted at the polling stations. 19,110 polling stations have been set up for the Panchayat elections, out of which 1,187 have been declared highly sensitive. There are 13,225 gram panchayats in the state. 9,398 gram panchayats will elect sarpanch.
