It has ordered fresh polls within six weeks under a monitoring mechanism overseen by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The Supreme Court has set aside elections in 50 municipal wards of Punjab, including the wards of Patiala’s senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor.
They also alleged that the nomination process was not video-recorded despite court directions. The bench requested the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to appoint, within one week, a monitoring committee headed by a retired judge of that court. Before nominations open, Punjab must furnish ward-wise lists of officials on election duty and of police officers of the rank of DSP and above. The state will also bear the costs of the committee and the observers.
Because opposition candidates were prevented from filing nominations, in Patiala, it found 13 wards were vitiated. Because a man called Gaurav Kumar was prevented from filing his nomination, the order noted, ward 34 will see re-polling. The 50 wards comprise 28 in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)-ruled Patiala Municipal Corporation and 22 in the Dharamkot and Baghapurana municipal councils of Moga district. These were wards 1, 12, 32, 33, 36, 41, 43, 44, 45, 48, 50, 51 and 52.
The petitioners, described in the order as “associated with different National/State Political Parties”, alleged, “Members of the ruling party, police officials, and unknown third parties prevented [prospective candidates] from submitting their nomination forms, including by physical assault, tearing of clothes, and snatching of the nomination papers. Another 14 wards here were affected because particular opposition candidates were “forcibly excluded from contesting”, though it “could not determine whether their participation would have changed the result”. It also found “serious evidence of bogus/multiple voting and intimidation” in wards 15 and 58. “The re-election schedule shall be notified only after the Monitoring Committee has been duly constituted,” the bench said.
