Govt puts onus on postponing panchayat elections to State poll body

PANJIM: The State government on Monday informed the High Court of Bombay at Goa about agreeing to hold general elections to 186 Village Panchayats on June 4 upon recommendation of the State Election Commission’s (SEC), but constant change in dates by the SEC prompted a delay.

The High Court reserved the order after concluding the marathon hearing. 

During the hearing of a writ petition filed by former Socorro sarpanch Sandeep Vazarkar seeking completion of the election process in his village for the term 2022-2027, Advocate

 General Devidas Pangam submitted to the Division Bench of Justice M S Sonak and Justice R N Laddha that it was wrong to blame the government for postponing the polls.

“We had agreed for June 4 but the SEC proposed several changes in dates and compliances with regards to certain directions the Courts. Until then it was the onset of monsoon. Goa receives heavy to very heavy rainfall from June to August and it would not be appropriate to call for elections,” AG said during the hearing that concluded after over three hours. 

 But the Commission has stood by the fact that it was well prepared to conduct elections. The Commission during the last hearing had supported the petitioner’s claim that elections should be held as early as possible. It’s legal representative Adv S N Joshi had submitted that the GSEC made all arrangements to hold the elections on May 29, 2022. After that, the GSEC proposed holding elections on June 4, June 11 and June 17, 2022. “About 22 days’ time is required to complete the election process. The GSEC was only disabled from holding the elections because of the non-issue of Notification under Rule 10(1) of The Goa Panchayat and Zilla Panchayat (Election Procedure) Rules, 1996 by the State government,” Adv Joshi submitted.

It may be recalled that the SEC had earlier even decided to call a press conference on May 23 to announce the poll schedule but had to cancel it without any reasons. There were reports that the State Election Commissioner W V Raman Murthy was pressurised by the government to call off the media briefing.

 The AG also submitted that the time was consumed since SEC sought certification which was not within the domain of the government and further sought to seek orders from appropriate court of law when no such exercise was legally available.

Since then, the government capitalised on the Supreme Court judgment delivered in early May, which stated that triple test was mandatory for holding panchayat polls.