After SC verdict, SEC to prepare ground for Panchayat polls

CHANDIGARH: The State Election Commission today said it will soon set in motion the process for conduct of panchayat polls after the Supreme Court upheld a new in Haryana mandating minimum educational qualifications as a prerequisite for the contestants.

"We will send a proposal to the state government immediately after we get the operative part of the Supreme Court judgement.

"After getting the nod from the government, the process of holding the (panchayat) polls, which had been put on hold in view of the apex court hearing the petition, will be set in motion once again," Haryana State Election Commissioner Rajeev Sharma said over telephone.

The Model Code of Conduct was put on hold from September 24 in view of the Supreme Court hearing the petition pertaining to the validity of the educational qualifications for the candidates contesting panchayat polls in Haryana.

The apex court today upheld the validity of recent amendments in a Haryana law which fixes various criteria including minimum educational qualification for candidates contesting panchayat polls.

The petition had challenged validity of Haryana's Panchayati Raj (amendment) Act 2015 which fixes matriculation as essential qualification for general candidates contesting panchayat polls.

As the matter was pending before the Supreme Court, the SEC had decided to put on hold all the activities in pursuant to Commission's notification dated September 8 and all other notifications/orders issued subsequently, Sharma said.

The Commission had on September 8 issued the programme for the conduct of elections to Panchayati Raj institutions in the state.

According to the programme, the panchayat polls were to be conducted in three phases - October 4, 11 and 18.

Meanwhile, ruling BJP in the state has hailed the Supreme Court verdict.

"The Supreme Court verdict on the panchayat poll issue has proved that Haryana Government's thought and direction of work are correct," State Health Minister Anil Vij tweeted.

When asked to comment on the judgement, senior Congress leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said, "I am yet to go through the verdict. I don't know on what ground the writ petition has been dismissed."