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Kerala high court rejects plea to defer local polls

Trivandrum: In a major setback to Kerala government, the high court on Thursday dismissed its plea to postpone the local body elections by one month.
The government had suggested postponement of the election from October to November to facilitate polls to the newly constituted 28 municipalities along with other local bodies. However, a division bench refused to intervene in the authority of the State Election Commission to conduct the polls.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan ruled that the Election Commission can decide on conducting the elections in accordance with the Constitutional provisions.
The commission can decide whether the election should be conducted in a single phase or in two phases.
The state government had informed the court that the elections could not be completed by October 31 as six village panchayats and 30 block panchayats had to be reorganised for the new municipalities and Kannur Corporation to come into existence. The high court had earlier upheld the formation of the new municipalities.
The state government had suggested the election in November so that the newly elected bodies could assume office by December 1. The government had justified its plea citing a similar situation in 2010, when the poll was similarly extended.
The Election Commission had also supported the government plea in the court. Election Commissioner K Sasidharan Nair told reporters after the high court verdict that it will conduct the election with the cooperation of the government.
The election process went haywire after the high court quashed the government order creating 69 new panchayats. Justice A V Ramakrishna Pillai passed the order while disposing of 47 petitions challenging two notifications.
The opposition parties have been opposing the government move to postpone the election. They accused the government of trying to torpedo the democratic process for taking control of the local bodies through unconstitutional means.
news@khaleejtimes.com

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