PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Nainital The Uttarakhand High Court has stayed the July 6 order of the State Election Commission which had stated that those with their names in multiple voter lists are eligible to contest in the three-tier Panchayat elections. The division bench of chief justice G Narendar and justice Alok Mahra ordered the stay on Friday while hearing a petition filed by Shakti Singh Barthwal challenging the SEC order (circular). The HC stated that a citizen can vote only in one place. However, the court also noted that any candidate or voter cannot be deprived of voting as that is the citizen’s constitutional right. The HC also stated that it is not in favour of stalling the election process. The SEC counsel stated that the commission had issued a circular to all district magistrates asking if those named in two voter lists should be allowed to contest the election. Objections to aspects related to the voter list should have been raised before the election notification. The counsel further cited a subsection of the Panchayat Raj Act section 9, stating that the name of any voter or candidate named in two voter lists should not be removed from the voter list. On the other hand, the petitioner cited subsections 6 and 7 of section 9 of the Act stating that a person should be listed only in one voter list. Considering the arguments, the HC ordered a stay on the SEC’s earlier circular.
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