SC Dismisses Uttarakhand SEC Plea On Panchayat Polls, Imposes Rs 2 Lakh Fine

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea by the Uttarakhand State Election Commission challenging an order of the state high court, which had put on hold its clarificatory circular allowing candidates with names in multiple electoral rolls to contest panchayat elections.

The matter came up for hearing before a bench comprising Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta. The bench said it is not keen to entertain the plea and also imposed a cost of Rs 2 lakhs on the SEC. "How can you decide contrary to the statutory provision?" the bench asked a counsel representing the SEC, while dismissing the plea filed by the SEC against a stay on the clarificatory circular issued by the Uttarakhand High Court in July this year.

In July, the state high court had observed that the clarification issued by the SEC runs contrary to the express provisions of Section 9(6) and 9(7) of the Uttarakhand Panchayati Raj Act, 2016. The law prohibits a voter from being registered in more than one territorial constituency or on more than one electoral roll.

The high court had said that the clarification, prima facie, appears to be in the teeth of the statutory provisions noted above.

The high court had noted that the statute expressly prohibits the registration of a voter in more than one territorial constituency or more than one electoral roll, and the same is a statutory bar.

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