Constitutional Mandate To Conduct Municipal Elections Cannot Be Put On Hold Without Justifiable Ground: Punjab & Haryana High Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today held that the constitutional mandate to conduct elections of various bodies including Municipal Corporation, cannot be "put on hold" without any "justifiable and reasonable ground."

While allowing the plea challenging the deferment of Chandigarh Mayoral elections on the ground of "law and order situation", a division bench of Justice Sudhir Singh and Justice Harsh Bunger said, "One could have understood the situation, if there was any emergent crisis or natural calamity. However, there being none, we are constrained to observe that the grounds to defer the elections in question, are totally absurd and frivolous."

Perusing the letter of DGP Chandigarh the bench opined that State only observed regarding "likelihood that as and when the elections are going to be held, a large number of supporters of all the major political parties, may gather at the Municipal Corporation Office, Chandigarh, which may create law and order situation and possibility of clashes amongst their supporters, cannot be ruled out."

After examining the reports submitted by the respondents wherein it was stated that a scuffle took place and Punjab police was involved in the Chandigarh Mayoral poll, the Court said, "the contents thereof do not disclose any emergent crisis or natural calamity, for which the elections had to be postponed. It is evident that the apprehensions expressed... only pertains to the supporters of the different political parties gathering at the venue and the incident report..."

In our considered view, the aforesaid apprehensions, were not that grave so as to fall within the "definition of emergent crisis or natural calamity and also leading to a situation, which could not have been addressed by the Administration," the Court added.

AAP councillor, Kuldeep Kumar had moved the High Court challenging the order rescheduling of the Mayoral election "illegally" and seeking directions to conduct fair and transparent elections to the post of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Chandigarh Municipal Corporation immediately within 24 hours.

It was submitted that if the impugned order is not quashed and the elections are not scheduled and held immediately then the whole election process will be jeopardized and there will be horse trading, intimidating of councillors against the settled principle of free and fair elections.

Reference was also made to an earlier plea filed by the petitioner, wherein the UT Administration and Police Authorities had undertaken before the Court to conduct fair and transparent elections on the scheduled day ie January 18.

The Court considered the question whether the Prescribed Authority (Deputy Commissioner, U.T., Chandigarh) was justified in deferring the elections to the posts of Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, on the ground of law and order situation, and that too for a period of 18 days?

Reliance was also placed upon Five-Judge Constitution Bench of the  Supreme Court in Special Reference No.1 of 2002 – In Re:- (Gujarat Assembly Election Matter) (2002), wherein while considering the issue of elections to the Gujarat Legislative Assembly, the Court held that "it is the duty of the authorities concerned to conduct the elections within time frame and that the law and order situation cannot ordinarily be a ground to postpone the elections or not holding the same within time.

The bench opined that, "The mandate of the Constitution as regards the elections to various bodies, including the Municipal Corporations, cannot be allowed to be put on hold, without any justifiable and reasonable ground."

"Since the grounds on which the elections have been deferred are unjustified and unreasonable and the very fact that it has been deferred for 18 long days, adds irrationality to it. As noticed above, we have given the respondents patient hearing and sufficient opportunity to rectify the said wrong, but to no avail. We, thus, hold that the impugned order is totally unreasonable, unjustified and arbitrary," the Court added.

While quashing the deferment order of the election, the Court directed that, "The respondents-authorities shall conduct the elections to the posts of Mayor; Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Municipal Corporation, Chandigarh, on 30.01.2024 at 10 a.m. at the scheduled place as indicated in the order dated 10.01.2024."

It also added certain conditions including that the Councillors, who would come for voting in the aforesaid elections, shall not be accompanied by any supporters or by the security personnel belonging to any other State.

The Court also directed Chandigarh Police to ensure that "neither any ruckus nor any untoward incident takes place in or around the premises of the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation Office, prior to, during or after the election process."

Sr. Advocate Gurminder Singh with Advocates Gaurav Garg Dhuriwala, R.P.S. Bara, K.S. Kharbanda, Ferry Sofat, Karanbir Singh, Manish Kumar Kansal, Gurbhej Singh for the petitioner.

Anil Mehta, Sr. Standing Counsel, U.T. Chandigarh assisted by Advoactes Sanjiv Ghai, Sumeet Jain, Himanshu Arora, Pradeep Sharma, and Nishant Indal for respondents No. 1 & 2.

Chetan Mittal, Sr. Advocate assisted by Advocates Kunal Mulwani, Daksh Uppal for respondents No. 3 & 4.

Manish Bansal, Public Prosecutor, U.T. Chandigarh assisted Navit Singh, Advocate for respondents No. 5 & 6.

Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (PH) 24

Case Title: KULDEEP KUMAR VS U.T. CHANDIGARH AND OTHERS

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