HC notice to UP govt, SEC on panchayat polls

The Allahabad High Court today sought a reply from Uttar Pradesh government and the state Election Commission (SEC) on a writ petition challenging the state government's order related to sequencing conduct of district and block panchayats members election and election of village pradhans.
A division bench here of justice Dinesh Maheshwari and justice Abhinava Upadhyaya gave the order on a writ petition filed by two persons of Bahraich district, seeking a direction for quashing the government order of September 5, said petitioners counsel Prashant Singh Atal.
The petitioners counsel alleged that as per article 243 E of the Constitution, election of village pradhans should be completed before its 5-year term expired, hence this GO is bad in the eyes of law.

The petitioners also sought a direction for conducting district, blocks and village panchayats elections simultaneously, as per legal provisions. He further submitted that the term of present village pradhans is going to expire on November 7, while district and block panchayat members' term ends on January 17, 2016 and March 13, 2016 respectively. Hence the term of village pradhans, which is ending earlier, their election should be conducted first.
On the other hand, the counsel for respondents - the state government and the state election commission--opposed the petition. They sought time to file their reply, which was granted by the court, while fixing September 21 as the next date of hearing the matter.