India News | SEC Defers Tabulation of Panchayat Poll Votes and Results in Madhya Pradesh Post SC Ruling
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. In view of the recent ruling of the Supreme Court regarding OBC seats in Madhya Pradesh, the State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday decided to postpone the tabulation of votes and declaration of results of the upcoming Panchayat polls.
Bhopal, Dec 22 (PTI) In view of the recent ruling of the Supreme Court regarding OBC seats in Madhya Pradesh, the State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday decided to postpone the tabulation of votes and declaration of results of the upcoming Panchayat polls.
As per the directions of the Supreme Court, the proceedings related to the tabulation of counting of votes and the declaration of election results for all the posts in the three-tier Panchayat elections has been postponed, said BS Jamod, Secretary, MP SEC.
Also Read | India Currently Facing 3rd COVID-19 Wave, To Hit Peak in February 2022, Say Scientists.
He said that separate instructions will be issued in this regard.
The order issued by the SEC quoted the SC directives stating that “Further, election for General category seats shall proceed along with other election already notified and is underway but results of all the seats (including re-notified general seats) will be declared together on the same day.”
Jamod said that all the records and documents related to the counting of votes will be kept in safe custody after sealing them in the presence of candidates or their agents.
In case of the sole candidate for any seat, neither the results will be declared nor a winning certificate is given, he said.
On December 17, the apex court had stayed the poll process on seats reserved for Other Backward Classes in Panchayat elections in Madhya Pradesh and re-notified these seats as the general category seats.
The SC ruling came after Congress leader Manmohan Nagar, president of Bhopal Jila Panchayat, approached the apex court claiming that the BJP government in Madhya Pradesh had violated the Constitutional provisions on the rotation of reservation and delimitation for the Panchayat polls.
A day after the SC's ruling, the SEC s decided to put off the Panchayat election process on the seats reserved for OBCs.
Polling on other seats will be held as per the schedule in three phases on January 6, January 28 and February 16 next year.
A total of 155 posts of members of Jila Panchayats, 1,273 members of Janpad Panchayats, 4,058 sarpanchs, 64,353 posts of panch were reserved for OBCs during this election process.
On December 4, the SEC had announced polling for 859 posts of district panchayats across 52 districts in Madhya Pradesh, 6,727 posts under 313 Janpad Panchayats, Sarpanchs of 22,581 village panchayats and on 3,62,754 posts of Panch members in three phases on January 6, January 28 and February 16.
The process of filing nominations for the first and second phases began on December 13.
Counting of votes for the sarpanch and the panch elections will be held at the booths, while votes for Janpad Panchayat and Jila Panchayat members will be counted at the block headquarters.
Results of the election for Janpad panchayat members will be announced at the block headquarters on February 22. The results of the Jila panchayat members' election will be declared at the district headquarters on February 23, the SEC had said.
After the SEC's fresh announcement, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath on Wednesday asked the state government to clarify its stand on the confusion prevailing about the Panchayat elections.
“The MP government had promised in the State Assembly that Panchayat elections will not be held without OBC reservation but the confusion is increasing due to new SEC orders every day. State government should clarify what steps it has been taking and when it is moving to the court to ensure OBC reservation in Panchayat polls,” Nath said in a statement.
BJP's OBC wing son Wednesday staged statewide protests against Congress, accusing the opposition party of conspiring against the backward classes, said party's media cell in-charge Lokendra Parashar.
During the protests, workers burnt effigies of Nath, and Congress MPs Digvijay Singh and Vivek Tankha (petitioner Manmohan Nagar's lawyer) for "conspiring" against the OBCs, he said.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)