In yet another setback to Kerala’s Congress-led UDF Government on the issue of the election to the three-tier local self-Government institutions, the High Court on Thursday rejected its plea seeking permission to delay the election by a month in order to complete the procedures associated with delimitation in several civic bodies.
Refusing to even consider the plea of the Government, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice AM Shafeeq said it was up to the State Election Commission to take decisions on all poll-related matters. The court had issued a similar order on August 20 and there was no need of a new order, the bench said.
Stating that the Judiciary could not interfere in the constitutional responsibilities of the Election Commission and that no special instructions could be issued, the court made it clear that it was up to the commission to decide whether the election, which should be held in October as per normal schedule, should be delayed and whether it should be held in one go or in two phases.
With this ruling, the efforts of the Government to postpone the civic polls by a month by getting instructions from the Judiciary to the poll panel has met with total failure but observers opine that the election may get delayed by a month as the SEC does not want a confrontation with the Government.
“The Government is now completely at the SEC’s mercy. The fact is that the Government has not got even a single favourable court response so far in the issue,” said a senior HC lawyer. State Election Commissioner K Sasidharan Nair said that he would have to study the verdict before responding and that the SEC had no disputes with the Government.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy also said that the Government was not at loggerheads with the poll panel. In the new situation, the commission can decide to go ahead with its original plan of holding the election in October on the basis of the 2010 ward structure or to accept the Government’s plea for delayed polls.