PIONEER NEWS SERVICE/Dehradun Uncertain about the effect which the recent order of the Uttarakhand High Court will have on the ongoing process of three-tier Panchayat election, the State Election Commission has submitted an application in the High Court seeking clarification. Since this matter is slated to be heard on July 14, the SEC has postponed allocation of election symbols to the Panchayat election candidates by a few hours to 2 PM on Monday. It will be recalled that on July 11, the HC had ordered a stay on the SEC order dated July 6 in which the commission had stated that the nomination of any candidate in the three-tier Panchayat elections will not be cancelled if his/her name figures in the voter list of more than one Gram Panchayat or in the urban local bodies. Hearing on the write petition Shakti Singh Barthwal versus the State Election Commission and others, the HC bench of chief justice G Narendar and justice Alok Mahra had ordered a stay on the SEC order which allowed people having names in multiple voter lists to contest the Panchayat elections. The HC had directed the returning officers to not act on the order of the SEC on the candidature of such candidates with names in multiple voter lists. Following this, the SEC secretary RK Goyal had said that the order was being studied and legal opinion was being sought on it by the commission. He said that the commission would approach the HC to seek clarification to ascertain what effect the court order would have on the ongoing process for the Panchayat election. In the order issued by the SEC on Sunday, signed by the State election commissioner Sushil Kumar, it has been stated that the commission has submitted an application for clarification in the HC and that the matter is to be heard by the court on Monday. Considering this, the allocation of election symbols to the Panchayat election candidates has been deferred by the commission till 2 PM. The process of symbol allocation was earlier slated to start at 10 AM.
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