‘Election is in three days’: Supreme Court dismisses plea to stay Delhi civic polls
On November 9, the Delhi High Court had also refused to interfere with the polls.
The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea challenging the Delhi High Court verdict refusing to stay the Municipal Corporation of Delhi elections that are scheduled to be held on December 4, Live Law reported.
“Passage of time has made the petition infructuous as the election is in three days,” a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Abhay S Oka said.
On November 9, the Delhi High Court had refused to stay the municipal elections saying that once the poll notification is published, the judges cannot stay it.
However, the court had issued notices on three pleas filed by the National Youth Party, a man named Sanjay Gupta and the Resident Welfare Association challenging the delimitation of wards.
Gupta argued in his plea that the State Election Commission had arbitrarily reserved the wards for Scheduled Castes, The Financial Express reported. He also said that the commission’s order had legal infirmities, defeating the purpose of Article 243T of the Constitution.
The Article provides for the reservation to the Scheduled Caste population by rotation to different constituencies in a municipality.
The number of wards under Delhi civic body limits was reduced to 250 from 272 through the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022.
The Act also merged East Delhi Municipal Corporation, North Delhi Municipal Corporation and South Delhi Municipal Corporation into one entity.
