Kerala’s CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF may approach the Judiciary if a situation arises where the civic polls, due in the State in October, get delayed because of the Congress-led UDF Government’s insistence on holding it on the basis of the new ward structure which the High Court has already termed as faulty.
“The Government’s attempt is to sabotage Kerala’s power decentralisation, which has become a model for the whole country. We will take legal measures to counter this if it is necessary,” said lDF convener Vaikom Viswan after an emergency meeting of front leaders in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday afternoon.
Viswan said that the lDF was in favour of holding the local body elections on the basis of the ward structure that existed in 2010. Also, the election should be held in October itself and the new civic councils should come into being by November 1, which was a constitutional obligation, the lDF convener said.
On Monday, a single-judge Bench of the Kerala High Court had nullified the formation of 69 Panchayats by splitting 84 Revenue villages, which was a violation of the concerned provisions of the Panchayati Raj Act. In this context, the State Election Commission is insisting that the polls should be held in October itself on the basis of the 2010 ward structure.
However, the Government seems to be intransigent in its position that the election should be held as per the delimitation allegedly due to the pressure from the Muslim league, a major UDF partner, which holds all portfolios concerning local administration. The Government on Wednesday filed an appeal in the High Court against the order of the single-judge Bench.
leftist leaders alleged that the Government was trying to ensure that new civic councils did not assume office by November 1 so that pro-UDF Government officials could be appointed as administrators. “If the Government cannot fulfill the constitutional obligations what it should do is to step down,” said State CPI(M) secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.