Will move court if U'khand civic body polls are delayed: Avdhash Kaushal

Backing the Uttarakhand election commission's accusation that the state government was delaying the civic body polls, noted rights activist Avdhash Kaushal today threatened to move court against the chief minister and the chief secretary if elections were not held on time.

Alleging that the delay in announcement of civic body poll schedule was part of an "evil design" hatched jointly by politicians and bureaucrats, Padmashree awardee Kaushal said his NGO, Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK), would seek legal action if elections to civic bodies were.

The five-year term of the municipal bodies in Uttarakhand ends on May 3 and polling should be held before that date as per provisions of the Indian Constitution.

"According to the 74th Amendment Act (Article 243U), duration of the municipality has been fixed at five years from the date of its appointment. Elections to constitute a municipality are required to be conducted before the expiry of its term.

If the municipality is dissolved before the expiry of five years, the elections for constituting a new municipality are required to be completed within a period of six months from the date of its dissolution," Kaushal said, citing constitutional provisions.

Quoting a Supreme Court order, he said, "The states concerned cannot be permitted to withhold the elections to panchayats/local bodies except in cases of genuine supervening difficulties to hold such elections, e.g., unforeseen natural calamities in the state like flood, earthquake, etc."