Punjab MC polls: HC terms delimitation exercise at three civic bodies illegal

The Punjab and Haryana high court has declared the delimitation exercise in the municipal corporation, Phagwara, and municipal councils of Dera Baba Nanak and Dharamkot illegal and has set aside the state government notifications for the same.

“Neither there is any alteration in the municipal limits nor there is any increase in the population. As such, the entire exercise is a nullity and suffers from incurable defect. The respondents have completely departed from the procedure prescribed under the Rules of 1972 by creating tailor-made wards only suitable to a few to ensure their success in elections, which has resulted in disturbing the level playing field to give undue advantage to a select few,” the bench of justice Raj Mohan Singh and justice Harpreet Singh Brar observed stating that the state election commission would be at liberty to hold election to these wards as it existed before the fresh exercise was initiated by the present government.

It also said the commission is at liberty to conclude the revision/finalisation of the electoral rolls and issue appropriate notification for conducting elections.

The court was seized of a clutch of petitions challenging the fresh exercise initiated by the government earlier this year for delimitation of wards in Dera Baba Nanak municipal council; a letter regarding delimitation of Phagwara municipal corporation wards; for quashing notification constituting board for Dharamkot municipal council delimitation and quashing “illegal appointment” of two Jalandhar Municipal Corporation delimitation board members.

It said that the entire exercise was a nullity and suffered from incurable defect as there was neither any alteration in the municipal limits nor an increase in the population. Door-to-door population survey, crucial for collecting identifiable data for wards’ reservation, was also not done. The decision-making process was most cryptic, laconic and conducted in a manner totally alien to the procedure prescribed, it recorded.

The court noted that it was not for the court to indicate the manner for carrying out delimitation. But it could interfere if infirmities/illegalities by the state were grave and palpably illegal, especially when the election process was yet to be put in motion by the state election commission.

“Elections are not merely rituals to be performed periodically. The elections are the only effective tool to ascertain the will of the people for genuine self-governance at grassroots level which is possible only through free and fair elections. ‘Freeness’ and ‘fairness’ is a universally recognized standard by which a level playing field is ensured. It not only ensures that each competitor has an equal chance to succeed, but also that they all play by the same set of rule,” the bench recorded