Two days after the announcement of the dates of the panchayat elections in the state, the Uttarakhand High Court on Monday took all action about the elections.
A petition was filed by Bageshwar-resident Ganesh Dutt Kandpal, saying that the government’s decision to reduce the existing reservation rotation for the panchayat elections and to bring a new rotation from this year has stopped him from being able to contest elections.
Under the reservation rotation system, constituencies are reserved for various categories for three conditions, after which Kota goes to other seats. The existing rotation was depressed and with a new rotation starting from this year, Kandpal represented by Advocate Shobit Saharia said that a seat reserved for the last three conditions will be reserved again this year.
This, Candpal argued, has stopped him from contesting elections. The petitioner argued that the High Court had already issued guidelines on the matter in the past.
The petition was filed on Thursday and the Division Bench of Chief Justice G. Narendra and Justice Alok Maharah on Friday heard the case. On Monday, the court stopped the electoral proceedings until the state panchayat presents the notification for the new rules for the elections. The state has also been asked to submit its policy on reservation.
After the stay order, Panchayati Raj Secretary Chandresh Kumar said, “The High Court has currently stopped the panchayat elections as no Gazette notification has been issued for the Reservation Rules 2025 so far. In this regard, I have talked to the government’s press, Rurki, which is a copy of the gazette notification available for the state government.”
He said that the state is “committed to maintain the full dignity and directions of the court and to conduct the Panchayati Raj system according to the Constitution and Law”.
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On Saturday, the State Election Commission announced election dates to three -level panchayats in 12 districts of Uttarakhand except Haridwar. With the enrollment process starting from 25 June, elections were to be held in two phases. Voting was scheduled to be held on 10 July in the first phase and in the second phase on July 15, and was counted on 19 July. Model code of conduct was implemented in all areas of the state except urban areas and Haridwar district.
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