Parents file PIL against BBMP polls

Teaching faculty on exam duty will hamper examination process

The petitioners have said holding elections during the examinations would cause hardship to the students. The petitioners challenged the division bench order of the court directing the State to hold elections before March 30.

“During elections, school buildings and teachers would be engaged in poll work. If the entire teaching faculty is diverted to election duty, it will hamper the examination process,” the petitioners contended. It may be recalled that the division bench on Monday had rejected the application by the State seeking extension of time till May 15 to hold the BBMP polls. The Court had observed that the reasons of the State government to further postpone the elections are frivolous, flimsy, lame excuse and not reasonable at all.
The State had also cited reasons of SSLC and PUC exams while seeking extension of time, but the court rejected those grounds.

Either the State government or the State Election Commission (SEC) is likely to file an application before the High Court, seeking its permission to hold the BBMP elections on April 18 - after school examinations.

However, with the issue of the final notification on the revised ward reservation list on Wednesday, the much-delayed election is expected to go ahead. “By issuing the final notification, the government has made it clear that it has no intention to delay the polls. It will only seek a slight modification of its order. April 18 will be convenient for holding polls as school examinations will be over by then,” sources in the government said.
Presently, the SEC is bound by the court order to conduct the elections by March 30. As the final notification is out, the SEC has to now fix dates for completing the election processes.

It is learnt that the Education Department officials have informed the government that it will be extremely difficult to divert its teachers for elections duty during examinations.
DH News Service