Gajendra Singh Negi/ Dehradun The stay ordered by the Uttarakhand High Court on the State Election Commission’s order allowing candidates having names in the voter lists of urban local bodies and Panchayats to contest Panchayat elections has put up a question mark over the functioning of the SEC in Uttarakhand. Experts are of the view that the HC has correctly imposed a stay on the SEC’s controversial order dated July 6 which allowed candidates having names in the voter lists of ULBs to contest Panchayat elections. They point out that the order of SEC was against the provisions of the Uttarakhand Panchayati Raj Act -2016 and Representation of the People Act -1950. Meanwhile, the order of the HC which has come as a setback for the SEC has prompted contemplation in the commission. The secretary of the SEC, RK Goyal told The Pioneer that the order of the HC is being studied and a legal opinion is being sought in the matter. Speculations are rife that the SEC will move the HC on Monday to clarify its position on the issue of names in multiple voter lists. The commission is also likely to seek the opinion of the court on the scrutiny of the nomination papers which have already been done. The commission will allot symbols to the candidates on Tuesday (July 14) for the elections in the first phase and in such a situation it will like to get the situation clarified from the HC. The institution of the State Election Commission came into existence after the 73rd and 74th amendments in the Constitution of India in the year 1992. The amendment granted constitutional status to the rural local bodies (Panchayats) and urban local bodies. Interestingly, the task of preparing the voter lists of the ULBs and Panchayats is done by the SEC and the presence of a large number of people in the voter lists of both ULBs and Panchayats shows that the work of revision and preparation of the voter lists was not done properly. Senior lawyer RS Raghav said that the law is very clear that a person cannot have names in voter lists of two places and the order of SEC was illegal. He added that the HC has struck down the order and the SEC should act accordingly. Senior journalist Jay Singh Rawat told this correspondent that the entire episode highlights the poor working style of the SEC which is tasked with preparing voter lists of the ULBs and Panchayats. He said that the SEC order allowing the candidates having names in multiple voter lists was unconstitutional and the HC was correct in striking it down. He said that the RPA- 1950 clearly states that having names in voter lists of two places is a punishable offence. Rawat said that some city dwellers, in order to have a say in Panchayat bodies, register their names in voter lists of Panchayats. The attempts of such people should be thwarted in order to preserve the sanctity of the RPA and the constitution and to ensure that the power in Panchayats is in the hands of the people who actually reside in villages, he said.
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