Uttarakhand State Election Commission postpones election-related proceedings for Panchayat elections, cites High Court order

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], June 24 (ANI): The State Election Commissioner in Uttarakhand, Sushil Kumar, postponed all election-related proceedings till further orders, including the nomination process for the proposed three-tier Panchayat elections.
This decision has been taken in compliance with the order of the Uttarakhand High Court in Nainital.
The High Court passed an order on June 23 in 'Ganesh Dutt Kandpal vs State of Uttarakhand and others', saying that due to the promulgation of reservation rules for Panchayat elections not being duly notified, the reservation determination and the entire proceedings related to it are postponed till further orders.
In the same sequence, while hearing other writ petitions, the court has fixed the next hearing of the case on June 25.
It must be noted that the State Election Commission, under its notification, had announced the election program for Gram Panchayat member, Pradhan, Kshetra Panchayat member and District Panchayat member in 12 districts (except Haridwar).
Under this, the nomination process was to be held from June 25 to June 28. But due to the order of the High Court, the nomination and all further election processes will remain suspended until a new order comes from the court.
The State Election Commission has clarified that it is not possible to start the nomination and other processes due to the lack of clarity on the status of reservation and allocation of posts.
The Commission has informed all the concerned officials and personnel associated with the election in this regard.
Earlier, the Chief Justice's Bench of the Nainital High Court stayed the Panchayat elections in the state of Uttarakhand. The Uttarakhand High Court has stayed the notification of Panchayat elections in the state. Reservation-related matters from many places in the state were challenged in the High Court.
During the last hearing, the Chief Justice's Bench of the High Court had directed the state government to submit its reply in the matter, and a detailed reply was submitted by the state government today on reservation and other matters. After hearing about it, the High Court stayed the Panchayat elections. (ANI)