Defer Maharashtra civic pollsphase 1 results till Dec 21: High court

NGAPUR: The Nagpur seat of Bombay precocious tribunal connected Tuesday restrained Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) from announcing the results of archetypal signifier of municipal assembly and nagar panchayat polls connected Dec 3, a time aft polling, connected the grounds that it whitethorn “prematurely disclose nationalist mood”, and power the adjacent circular of voting scheduled for Dec 20.A part seat of Justices Anil Kilor and Rajnish Vyas ordered that full counting process should beryllium held lone aft the 2nd phase, and each results indispensable beryllium announced unneurotic connected Dec 21. The seat held that declaring the archetypal signifier results wrong 24 hours would compromise electoral fairness. “This whitethorn materially impact the results of polls connected Dec 20. Then, it cannot beryllium said elections connected Dec 20 would beryllium held successful a just and transparent manner,” it said.The tribunal besides prohibited work oregon broadcast of exit canvass outcomes till voting ends connected Dec 20. The exemplary codification of behaviour volition beryllium successful unit till combined results are declared, the seat further said.The bid came portion proceeding 3 petitions — filed by Shakil Hamid Mansuri, Ashwini Burde and Sachin Chute — challenging SEC’s determination to defer elections successful definite civic bodies, wherever appeals are pending implicit acceptance oregon rejection of information papers.

The petitioners argued that the revised docket had fractured the uniformity of the electoral process and risked giving an unfair vantage to immoderate candidates.Under the archetypal programme, each municipal councils and nagar panchayats crossed Maharashtra were scheduled to ballot connected Dec 2. However, SEC past week postponed the polls successful seats wherever appeals had been filed, saying it was indispensable to supply a three-day play for withdrawal of nominations aft disposal of appeals.While 264 nagar panchayats and municipal councils went to polls connected Wednesday, voting successful remaining 24 volition instrumentality spot connected Dec 20.SEC told the tribunal that portion counting for section bodies with pending appeals would beryllium held connected Dec 21, results of the polls held connected Tuesday volition beryllium announced connected Dec 3, arsenic primitively scheduled.The seat firmly rejected the canvass panel’s plan, saying that declaring results connected Dec 3 would “affect the second-phase electorate”.