Supreme relief for Punjab Government, SC grants 8 weeks to complete MC and Council election process

New Delhi: The Punjab government has received relief from the Supreme Court in the  Municipal Corporation And Council civic elections case. The Court has granted the Punjab government eight weeks to conduct the elections. As a result, the government is expected to issue a notification for the elections in January.

Previously, the state government challenged the Punjab and Haryana High Court order in the Supreme Court. That order issued a notice of contempt against the Punjab government and required it to issue an election notification within 15 days.

The five-year terms for the Municipal Corporations of Phagwara, Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, and Ludhiana, as well as for 42 Municipal Councils in the state, have expired. A considerable amount of time has passed since the conclusion of these terms, yet the government has not conducted the elections.

This issue was raised before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which was asked to mandate the elections. After a hearing on October 14, the court ordered that the election notification be issued within 15 days, without dividing the areas into wards. However, this process was not completed within the specified timeframe, which included several government holidays. As a result, a contempt petition was filed regarding the matter.

While hearing the petition, the High Court issued a notice of contempt and instructed that the election notification be issued within ten days. The court made it clear that failure to comply within this new timeframe would result in a fine of Rs. 5,000 and the initiation of a contempt case.