The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the ongoing Panchayat elections in the state of Punjab. The bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud agreed to list the matter and hear the petitioners but refused to provide an interim stay on the Panchayat elections.
CJI Chandrachud said that in a democracy, courts should not be staying elections. The bench agreed to list the pleas, but refused to provide an interim stay, observing that the polling has allready been started and the court cannot stay an ongoing elections.
The matter came up when a counsel sought an urgent listing of the challenge to irregularities in the Punjab Gram Panchayat Elections.
The bench headed by CJI Chandrachud said, "if polling has started today how can we interven at this stage? Probably the High Court realised the gravity of it and vacated the stay on the elections."
The CJI further added that since the polling has opened, a stay at this stahe will cause chaos. However, he assured the counsel that the matter will be listed.
The counsel still insisted, describing it as an "unusual situation."
The CJI replied: "It is an unusual democracy also!...Tomorrow someone will seek stay on the Parliamentary elections once polling opens, can you imagine the consequences?"
The Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday cleared the way for October 15 panchayat polls in the state. The high court bench of justice Sureshwar Thakur and justice Sudeepti Sharma dismissed 1,000 odd petitions alleging rejection of nomination papers on flimsy grounds by the authorities.
The high court vacated the October 9 stay on the Panchayat elections just a day before its schedule. The court dismissed nearly 1000 petitions filed on various grounds observing that elections would take place as per the schedule.
The election is taking place for 13,000 panchayats across Punjab.