SC extends deadline by month; asks HP govt, SEC to hold local bodies polls by May 31

The Supreme Court on Friday extended from April 30 to May 31 the deadline fixed by the Himachal Pradesh High Court for holding the polls for local bodies in the state. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi took note of the plea filed by the principal secretary of the state government and also extended the HC's deadline of Feb 28 to March 31 for completing reconstruction work, delimitation and reservation. On January 9, the Himachal Pradesh High Court rejected the Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu government's plea seeking to defer elections to panchayati raj bodies by six months, and directed it to conduct the polls before April 30. The top court, while extending the time lines by a month, however, said the high court was right in holding that the pendency of delimitation work cannot be a ground to ''delay and stall'' the polls for rural and urban local bodies. The bench, however, said that keeping in mind the monsoon and consequential difficulties usually being faced by the hill state, the poll process must be concluded before May 31. The high court, while disposing of the PIL challenging the postponement of polls, had directed the Himachal Pradesh government and the state Election Commission to complete the entire election process by April 30. Maintaining that the state has suffered extensive damage to public and private properties and roads, the state government had urged the poll panel to put the poll process on hold till the situation improved on the ground. The government also said that the Disaster Act is in force in the state. However, the high court, after hearing the arguments for three consecutive days, directed the government to hold the elections before April 30.