Punjab civic polls: Apex court to appoint high court ex-judge to look into grievances of candidates

The Supreme Court on Monday said it would appoint a retired high court judge to conduct an inquiry into the grievances of the aggrieved candidates of the Punjab municipal body polls.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh asked the Punjab government and the petitioners who have challenged the result of the civic body elections to suggest a retired high court judge, who could examine their grievances.

"It's a question of public faith and confidence. Those authorities, who are at the helm, if any allegations are made against them then they cannot look into the grievances," the bench told Punjab advocate general Gurminder Singh.

The court said it would pass a detailed order, giving the terms and reference of the one-man fact-finding committee, in a day or two.

The seat of the committee will be in Chandigarh, where only those petitioners, who have approached the high court or the Supreme Court with the grievances against the December 2024-January 2025 civic polls can make their claims and counter-claims, it added.

The top court clarified that it wasn't "casting any aspersions" on anyone and the grievances of the petitioners could be looked into only on a case-to-case basis.

Senior advocate Vivek Tankha, and other advocates appearing for the petitioners, submitted several candidates were not allowed to file the nomination papers and could not participate in the elections.

Singh opposed the submissions of the petitioners and said everything was done in accordance with law.