DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand HC has put the upcoming panchayat polls on hold, pointing out that the gazette notification on reservation rules had not been issued by govt. A division bench of Chief Justice G Narendar and Justice Alok Mahra sought a detailed explanation from the authorities in this regard.The court pointed out that the state EC had gone ahead and announced poll dates last week even though related legal proceedings were still pending. The elections were scheduled to be held in two phases – on July 10 and 15 – with results on July 19. Around 47.7 lakh voters were expected to cast their votes across 12 of Uttarakhand’s 13 districts (Haridwar district had been excluded from the process).The case had reached the court through petitions filed by Ganesh Dutt Kandpal and others from Bageshwar, who objected to the govt’s decision to revoke the old reservation rotation system and introduce new rules on June 9 and 11, respectively. The petitioners argued that this move allowed certain seats – already reserved for three consecutive terms – to remain reserved for a fourth term, which they said was “unfair and against the spirit of rotation, as it restricted opportunities for other candidates”.The court agreed that this contradicted its earlier instructions on fair reservation practices. While govt said a single-judge bench was already looking into related issues, the petitioners’ counsel pointed out that their challenge was focused on the June 9 notification and had been specifically placed before the division bench. The single bench, they added, was examining the June 11 order separately.Meanwhile, chief standing counsel, CS Rawat, told TOI, “The court noted that govt went ahead with the election process without issuing a gazette notification. However, by evening, we received the gazette notification, which we will place before the court in a similar case related to panchayat elections.”
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