Can elect Mayor, Deputy Mayor of Patiala Municipal Corporation: High Court
Elections to the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor, and Deputy Mayor for the Municipal Corporation, Patiala, can be held even if elections for seven of the 60 municipal wards are yet to be conducted.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed a petition challenging the notice for these elections, holding that the absence of members from a few wards did not impede the election process for these positions.
In the plea before the Division Bench of Justice Sureshwar Thakur and Justice Vikas Suri, directions were sought to quash the notification dated January 7, 2025, which scheduled the elections.
It was argued that the requisite quorum was incomplete due to the deferred elections in seven wards. But the court clarified that relevant provisions of law made it clear that quorum requirements applied only to the transaction of municipal business, not to the conduct of indirect elections such as those for Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
The court further asserted elections to these posts must be held within a month of councillors being notified. It noted that this mandatory timeline had already passed, and the elected councillors had subscribed to the oath of office.
The court added that the deferred elections in seven wards did not affect the validity of the process, as the conditions for holding the elections had been fulfilled.
Addressing the petitioner’s contention about the casual vacancies in the wards, the court referred to provisions which empowers the Municipal Corporation to conduct elections to fill such vacancies. It concluded that this issue fell within the domain of the municipal authorities and was not a valid ground to interfere with the scheduled elections.
Dismissing the petition, the court ruled that the elections, originally concluded on December 24, 2024, could proceed without awaiting the results of the deferred ward polls, as they were irrelevant to the indirect election process.