Supreme Court Issues Notice On Another Plea Challenging Punjab Panchayat Polls Over Alleged Prevention Of Candidates From Filing Nomination

The Supreme Court today issued notice on another plea challenging the Panchayat elections held in Punjab over alleged prevention of candidates from filing nomination papers.

A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna, Sanjay Kumar and R Mahadevan passed the order. The matter has been listed next on 18.11.2024.

It may be recalled that a few days back, the Court issued notice and sought the authorities' response on another plea alleging irregularities in the conduct of the Panchayat Elections in Punjab. Before that, on October 15, the Court refused to stay the Panchayat polls, noting that they had already begun and staying at that point could lead to grave consequences and chaos.

The issue stems from a decision rendered on October 14 by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, whereby over 800 writ petitions challenging the Panchayat elections on the ground of alleged arbitrary rejection of nomination papers filed by the candidates were dismissed.

Initially, a vacation bench of the High Court had stayed the election proceedings, noting that candidates were declared winners "unopposed" even before commencement of elections, by arbitrarily rejecting nomination papers of other candidates. In some cases officials of the "governing party in the State" tore nomination papers and claimed that papers were lost. In some other cases, nomination papers were rejected without reasons or for false reasons.

However, the stay was vacated later by the High Court, and as the Supreme Court also did not pass a stay order, the polls took place on October 15.

In the present case, Advocate Arjun Garg appeared for the petitioners and argued that the issue raised is seminal to the most basic and elementary aspect of democracy i.e. conduction of free and fair elections. He further urged that the alleged incidents are appalling and demonstrate a complete failure of the State machinery to protect fundamental right of the petitioners.

What Does The Petition Say?

The petitioners allege that their nomination forms for contesting the elections of Sarpanch (Village Basarke) and that of others for member panchayat in the State of Punjab, were snatched and torn by opposing candidate (and his supporters), in front of the returning officer. As such, only the opposing candidate was left in the fray and the same defeated the objective of democracy.

As per claims, when the petitioners went to file their respective nominations, they were confronted by the henchmen of the local MLA of of the ruling party, who aggressively threatened the petitioners and opposed their candidature. The confrontation escalated into a violent scuffle.

Further, it is stated that complaints were made to the police and an FIR lodged on 05.10.2024 in District Tarn Taran for offences punishable under Section 115(2), 127(1), and 171 BNS. However, no action was taken till the last date of filing of the nominations.

The petitioners assail the fact that the High Court initially stayed further process in the election, however, ultimately dismissed their petition on a technicality (maintainability).

"snatching and tearing of nomination papers of the Petitioners is against the essence of the Punjab State Election Commission Act, 1994 (hereinafter as 'Act of 1994') and the Punjab Panchayat Election Rules, 1994 (hereinafter as 'Rules of 1994'), wherein the statutory provisions provides that a candidature should not be rejected without affording an opportunity of hearing and even an opportunity to make correction in an error shall be provided at the time of scrutiny. A candidate is required to be given a notice of the time and place at which his nomination paper is to be scrutinized", the petition states.

The petition is filed through Advocate-on-Record Aakash Nandolia.

Case Title: SUMANDEEP SINGH AND ORS. Versus THE STATE OF PUNJAB AND ORS., SLP(C) No. 25243/2024

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