HC quashes countermanding of polls for Varanasi Zila Panchayat

The Allahabad High Court today quashed an order of the State Election Commission of Uttar Pradesh countermanding election for the post of Chairman of Zila Panchayat at Varanasi, barely a couple of days ahead of the scheduled day of polling.
A Division Bench comprising Justices Sunil Ambwani and Bharat Bhushan passed the judgement allowing the petition of Sujeet Kumar Singh, one of the two candidates in the fray, who had alleged that the impugned order was passed at the behest of his rival who belonged to the ruling Samajwadi Party in the state.
The election was necessitated by the then Zila Panchayat being voted out in a no-confidence motion moved in June, 2012.

In the mean time, a three-member committee headed by Kanti Yadav was set up by the state government "to perform the functions of the Zila Panchayat until the elections are held".
Notifications for the election were issued in January this year and after the last date of withdrawal of nomination papers on January 18, only the petitioner and Kanti Yadav were left in the fray.
According to the petitioner, election was countermanded by the State Election Commission on January 19, 2013, following a complaint by Yadav that mafia don Brijesh Singh, who was a close relative of Sujeet Kumar Singh, had got a number of villagers kidnapped and created an "atmosphere of terror" in which it was "neither appropriate nor possible to expect a fair election".

The court was of the view that "the State Election Commission acted illegally and beyond its authority in countermanding the election" and that it was "under constitutional duty to request the state government."
"Either the State Election Commissioner does not have the knowledge and understanding of his powers, or he was not prepared to act independently keeping himself away from the influence of the state government to request the Governor for providing sufficient staff for holding the elections or to approach the High Court for necessary assistance," the court said.