Jaipur: The Rajasthan government has approached the Supreme Court seeking a postponement of elections to 113 municipal bodies, citing the need to redo the ward delimitation process after it was struck down by the High Court.
A Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by the state government states that the Rajasthan High Court had quashed the ward delimitation exercise carried out for 113 of the 309 urban local bodies.
As a result, the Rajasthan government has sought additional time to complete the process afresh before conducting elections.
As per the SLP, there are may reasons for the government seeking more time. According to the SLP, the High Court found the delimitation exercise in 113 urban bodies to be flawed. While the total number of wards in these civic bodies remained unchanged, their internal boundaries were altered.
The court cancelled these revised ward boundaries, necessitating a fresh delimitation exercise.
The Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma-led government has argued that conducting polls without completing the revised delimitation process would not be legally sound, and therefore, the election schedule should be extended.
On November 14 last year, the Rajasthan High Court, while disposing around 439 petitions, directed the state government to complete the delimitation process by December 31 and conduct panchayat and municipal elections by April 15.
Subsequently, while hearing related petitions challenging the High Court’s order, the Supreme Court also directed that elections be held by April 15.
The Supreme Court will now consider the state government’s plea seeking more time.
The outcome of the hearing will determine whether the April 15 deadline for holding elections remains in place or is extended, said sources.
The matter is significant as it affects election timelines for over one hundred urban local bodies across Rajasthan.
Incidentally, the last ward reorganisation in Rajasthan was carried out in 2019, when the state had 196 urban local bodies. In the past six years, 113 new bodies have been created, where elections will be held for the first time.
(IANS)
