The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday ordered the State Election Commission (SEC) to issue a fresh calendar of events for holding elections to urban local bodies in the last week of September. The court, however, said that the new polling dates, at any rate, should not be fixed beyond September 30.

The Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph and Justice Ram Mohan Reddy issued a direction to this effect. It also stayed operation of SEC’s recent notification, publishing the calendar of events, scheduling the polls on August 30.

The order followed a public interest petition by Pradeep B Karbhoi and nine other residents of Uttara Kannada, Dakshina Kannada, Shimoga, Koppal and Chikmagalur districts, who had sought polls after the rainy season, by the end of September or October, 2007.

The petitioners had challenged the SEC’s August 2 notification, pertaining to 163 urban local bodies and August 3 notification concerning another 43 local bodies, for holding elections on August 30. Their counsel, Jayakumar S Patil, contended that if the polls were held as scheduled, all voters could not vote, owing to heavy rainfall and floods in the state.

Advocate General Uday Holla said the government had already conveyed to SEC that polls on August 30 would cause administrative inconvenience as district authorities needed to take up flood relief works, owing to heavy rains. He added that the dates would clash with the Shia festival, Moharrum, entailing stringent security measures-which would not be possible, if more policemen  were deployed  towards the polls.

He also stated that all political parties were equivocally in favour of postponing elections.

SEC counsel Phaneendra opposed the petition, saying that floods and rains pertained to only seven districts, while election notifications were concerned with urban local bodies across the state. These local bodies were due for elections since a year, as the tenures of previous elected bodies’ expired, against the constitutional mandate of holding timely elections.

Mr Phaneendra also cited a Supreme Court decision which he said, had prohibited high courts from issuing any directions having the effect of postponing elections, at a stage when they are reasonably imminent. He also contended that there would be no rains by the end of August.

He cited instances of urban bodies elections in 2001 and parliamentary elections in 1991, that were held during July-August itself.

After hearing the arguments, the bench opined that an extraordinary situation had arisen which justified postponement of polls. The bench said in its order, “since elections have already been delayed for a considerable period, postponement for another month cannot cause serious prejudice to public interest”.

SEC yet to see text
When contacted, State Election Commissioner M R Hegde said, “I have no reaction. It is a court order. I am yet to see the text’’.

CJ IN HUMOUROUS MOOD

Bangalore, dhns: During the hearing, Chief Justice Cyriac Joseph noted that political parties who would be the contestants were also against the scheduled date for the urban body polls. He quipped, “when the bride and groom want to postpone the marriage, what can the priest (referring to himself) do ?’’ To this, the SEC counsel replied, “here, they don’t want to marry at all, they want to remain as unmarried partners’’.

On the petitioners’ request for waiting till the Election Commission of India revised the voters’ list by September, the CJ narrated a joke,

“One woman was postponing her return to her husband’s house, waiting for their newborn child to turn five months. But, by the time the kid turned five months, they were again expecting another baby and again she waited. This went on happening and she never returned !’’

The CJ told the petitioners - “you have a similar plea over the voters’ list revisions. If we consider it, the elections will never take place’’ and refused to consider that ground.