The State Election Commission (SEC) on Thursday told the Karnataka High Court that it has fixed July 25 as final date for the State government to fix reservation for seats to hold general elections to around 5,800 gram pancyayats.
Also, the SEC has stated that efforts are being made, despite COVID-19, to finalise the electoral rolls for these panchayats by September 10.
Submissions in this regard were made before a Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Nataraj Rangaswamy during the hearing of a PIL petition, filed K.C. Kondaiah, Congress MLC, and others. The petitioners had questioned the constitutional validity of the May 28 notification issued by the SEC temporarily postponing the elections of these panchayats.
Pointing out that it could not carry forward the process of preparation of electoral rolls due to the pandemic, the SEC said that it recently held videoconference meetings with the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police of each district on beginning the process of preparation of electoral rolls.
Earlier hearing
During the earlier hearing, the Bench had asked the SEC to reconsider its May 28 decision as there is no provision in the Constitution to postpone elections to the panchayats. The Bench adjourned further hearing till July 29.
