PANJIM: State Advocate General Devidas Pangam on Thursday said that the government’s stand has been vindicated following the Supreme Court staying the High Court’s order setting aside reservation of wards in five municipal councils and hoped that the government will succeed before the apex court.
Stating that the Apex Court has restored the election process in five municipal councils, pending final hearing of the special leave petition (SLP) on Tuesday, Pangam reiterated that the High Court could not have interfered when the election process was on.
“Elections are the foundation of democracy. Democracy rests on election process and if there is interference in the election process by courts then it is interference in democracy. Democracy rests on elected representatives of the people and for smooth functioning of democracy elected representatives should be put in their respective positions in time and at the earliest. This principle has been evolved over a period of centuries,” he said.
Pangam also recalled two judgements delivered by the Supreme Court Constitutional Benches wherein a nine-member bench in the S R Bommai case clearly stated that the courts shall not interfere in the election process as it would be interference in the democratic process directly.
In the Ashok Kumar case, the Supreme Court stated that courts can interfere if any defect in the election process can be cured and it will facilitate the holding of elections in time. But any order of the court to stop elections or interfere with the election process then in such a scenario the court will never interfere.
According to Pangam, if there was any dispute then the right election dispute forum for the aggrieved party was to approach the District Courts after the elections were completed.
The Advocate General said that the election process in five municipal councils will now be continued and completed at the earliest so that the right of voters in no manner is affected.