Khushi Gupta
Published on: May 5, 2022 at 15:46 IST
The Maharashtra Government’s decision to delay Elections to over 2,400 local bodies pending delimitation exercise amounted to Abdication of Constitutional Duty and breakdown of Rule of Law in the State, observed the Supreme Court.
Justices AM Khanwilkar, AS Oka and CT Ravikumar said, “In five years, there is a Constitutional Duty to hold Elections to local bodies. We find that in 2,486 local bodies, Elections are long overdue and there are no elected representatives. Is it not a Case of breakdown of Rule of Law and abdication of Constitutional duty?”
The Court was considering a Petition filed by Ramesh Sheknath Kere Patil and Vijay SP Patil along with the Special Economic Backward Class forum of Maharashtra, challenging Amendments made by the State’s Legislative Assembly in March this year that transferred the power to delimit municipal wards and carry out delimitation exercise from the State Election Commission to the State.
The State Election Commission filed a chart indicating the seats presently Governed by Administrators and where Elections were overdue. The Bench directed the State Election Commission to notify Elections within two weeks.
The Court posted the matter for hearing on July 12.