Zila parishad, panchayat samiti elections postponed in Punjab

Ruchika M Khanna

Chandigarh, September 5

The government today withdrew the notification for holding zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections, five days after the government had withdrawn its notification for dissolving panchayats.

Interestingly, the notification issued today said while the elections to panchayats would be held by December 31, the elections to zila parishads and panchayat samitis stand deferred.

There are 23 zila parishads (Malerkotla was made after it was declared a district) and 153 panchayat samitis that are scheduled to go to the polls.

Official sources have told The Tribune that the elections to the bodies will now be postponed for the next year. The Aam Aadmi Party government wanted to hold elections of all rural and urban local bodies one after the other so that they did not have to bring in a model code of conduct for each election separately.

The earlier notification by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats to hold the elections for the bodies by November 25 and for panchayats by December 31 was issued on August 10. The government has only withdrawn that part of the notification where the dates for holding zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections were announced.

This notification was challenged in the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the Chairman of Muktsar Zila Parishad and the matter was to come up for hearing on Wednesday. The notification for holding the elections to these two rural bodies were challenged on the pretext that these were being held before their term expired. The five-year term of these bodies begin from the day its first meeting is held, though the elections to these bodies were held on September 19, 2018.

Was challenged in HC

• The notification for elections to these two rural bodies was challenged on the pretext that these were being held before their term expired
• The five-year term of these bodies begin from the day first meeting is held, though the elections to these bodies were held on September 19, 2018
• Oath to members were administered on January 11 and 12, 2019