Panchayat elections will not be held in Madhya Pradesh, Election Commission’s decision after legal advice
Panchayat elections will not be held in Madhya Pradesh yet. The State Election Commission on Tuesday took a decision to cancel the election after taking legal advice. Secretary State Election Commission BS Jamod said, after legal opinion, the State Election Commissioner has canceled the entire process of Panchayat elections.
The commission has said that the candidates who have deposited the security deposit along with the nomination, this amount will be returned to them. Apart from Jamod, State Election Commissioner Basant Pratap Singh, Principal Secretary Panchayat and Rural Development Umakant Umrao and other officials were present in the meeting organized for this decision.
Let us tell you that three meetings were held in the commission on Monday. During this, the legal opinion of the commission’s advocate Siddharth Seth was received by the officers, but the legal advice of two other lawyers could not be found. Because of this, the decision was postponed till Tuesday.
The commission took advice from the legal experts of the Supreme Court
On Tuesday, the Commission has taken an opinion from two senior advocates of the Supreme Court on Panchayat elections through video conferencing. The Commission is taking so long to take a decision because the Supreme Court had on December 17 declared the reserved seats for OBCs as normal and ordered elections to be held. Meanwhile, by withdrawing the Panchayat Raj Amendment Ordinance, the government had indicated that it is not possible to hold panchayat elections now. Home Minister Narottam Mishra had said that the panchayat elections would be postponed. He said- I think the election should be postponed.
The central government will become a party in the Supreme Court
The Central Government has now intervened in the matter of reservation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) in Panchayat elections. The Central Government had filed a petition in the Supreme Court on Monday to make it a party. The matter will be heard in the Supreme Court on January 3.
The State Election Commission was conducting elections on the orders of the Supreme Court, except for the posts reserved for Other Backward Classes (Panch, Sarpanch, Janpad and Zilla Panchayat members). Since the ordinance on the basis of which the election program was announced, the government has withdrawn it, so the election process will have to be postponed.
Chief Minister discussed with the Solicitor General
Shivraj government is making every effort to restore the ban imposed by the Supreme Court on OBC reservation in Panchayat elections. A review petition has been filed in the Supreme Court. A hearing on this is proposed on January 3. In this regard, the Chief Minister held a meeting with law experts including Solicitor General Tushar Mehta in Delhi on Sunday.
Data to be presented in Supreme Court
For reservation more than 50% of the fixed limit of reservation, the government will have to present the data before the court. In view of this, the government has started the work of getting the OBC voters counted through the Other Backward Classes Department. Instructions have been given to all the collectors that this process should be completed by January 7. Panchayat wise and ward wise information should be sent to the government.
