Punjab municipal elections: Supreme Court grants Punjab Government eight weeks to conduct civic polls

Punjab municipal elections: The Supreme Court on Monday granted an eight-week window to the Punjab Government to issue a notification and conduct the civic elections.

Notably, the Punjab Government had approached the Supreme Court challenging an earlier order by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which had issued a contempt notice to the state government directing it to release an election notification within 10 days. Failure to comply would have resulted in a penalty of Rs 50,000 and a continuation of the contempt proceedings.

The terms of five municipal corporations—Phagwara, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, and Ludhiana—along with 42 municipal councils have already expired. Despite significant delays, the civic body elections have not yet been held. The matter was taken up with the Punjab and Haryana High Court after public appeals demanding timely elections. On October 14, 2023, the High Court ordered the state to issue a notification for elections within 15 days without completing the ward delimitation process. However, the government was unable to comply, citing holidays and other delays, leading to a contempt petition being filed.

During the recent hearing, the government counsel argued that 16 weeks were necessary to complete the ward delimitation process. The previous ward delimitation decision was annulled on October 17, 2023, necessitating a comprehensive review and new delimitation. Despite the High Court’s directive to proceed without fresh ward delimitation, the state highlighted the importance of redrawing ward boundaries to ensure fair elections.