Hearing a public interest litigation challenging the election of block heads and district Panchayat heads, the high court of Uttarakhand has sought replies from the State Election Commission, State and Central Governments within four weeks. The petition was taken up for hearing before the division bench of chief justice Ramesh Ranganathan and justice NS Dhanik on Monday.
According to the case details, Vipul Jain, the former Mandi head of Vikasnagar in Dehradun had filed the public interest litigation. In his petition, Jain has stated that in the three tier Panchayat elections, the public elects members of the block development committee and district Panchayat. These BDC and district Panchayat members then elect the block head and district Panchayat head. However, the PIL avers that contenders for the posts of block heads and district Panchayat head buy the votes of the members. They also offer inducements like sending the members on foreign trip after being elected to the said posts. The petitioner has stated that those who are elected by the public end up selling their loyalty. Stating that such people contaminate the political system, the petitioner has sought that this be stopped.