Chennai: It is back to square one in Puducherry, where the much-awaited elections to the local bodies have been deferred once again. Close on the heels of Tamil Nadu going ahead with the elections to the rural local bodies in nine districts which were left out earlier, neighbouring Puducherry too geared up to hold the elections after a decade. But, it has been stymied once again.
Within weeks after the Puducherry State Election Commission (SEC) issued the notification for the three-phase elections commencing from October 21, the government has decided to issue a fresh notification after rectifying the anomalies in the delimitation of wards. This comes after Madras High Court rapped the Rangasamy government, in which the BJP is a partner.
Puducherry SEC Roy P Thomas made the announcement about holding the election on September 22. But, J Pregash Kumar, an independent legislator, and an ex-councillor, N Periannan, knocked on the doors of the court praying for a stay. Contending that there are glaring errors in the delimitation exercise, they submitted that wards with lower SC population have been reserved for SCs while those with a higher concentration of the community have been left out and that the SEC was not inclined to rectify them.
Not satisfied with the response of the SEC, the First Bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice PD Audikesavalu warned of stopping the poll process if the errors were not corrected and granted an interim stay on the process of filing nominations. The Bench also granted time for the government to make a decision. And, on Tuesday, the Rangasamy government submitted that it will not proceed with the civic polls and would issue a fresh notification after issues in the delimitation were addressed.
Successive governments have been evasive and unenthusiastic in conducting the elections. In 2018 itself, the Supreme Court had directed the territorial administration to hold the panchayat and municipal polls. But, in the bitter turf war between the previous Narayanasamy-led Congress government and the former Lt Governor Kiran Bedi, civic elections became a casualty. Narayanasamy went to the court unsuccessfully against Bedi's selection of Thomas as the SEC.
Now that the Rangasamy government has backed off, it remains to be seen as to when the civic bodies will have elections. And political analysts in Puducherry are of the view that only when in opposition parties make a hue and cry over this, but never display the will to conduct the polls when in government as it boils down to sharing power.
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