Rajasthan HC dismisses state government’s plea to extend time limit for holding polls for six civic bodies

Source:-newindianexpress

JAIPUR: The Rajasthan High Court has dismissed the state government’s application to extend time limit for holding elections for six newly created municipal corporations in the state.

A division bench of Chief Justice Indrajit Mahanty and Justice Prakash Gupta on Tuesday dismissed the application to defer the election from October 31 this year to March 31, 2021, for six municipal corporations of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Kota, and directed the government to conduct the elections by October 31.

The bench dismissed the petition holding that when panchayat elections could be held smoothly, then there should be no escape in holding elections of municipal corporations.

Earlier, the elections were postponed citing COVID-19 pandemic as a reason.

Elections in three municipal corporations of Jaipur, Jodhpur and Kota cities were due in November 2019, but the government bifurcated them to create six corporations and the elections were postponed for delimitation of wards and later postponed due to the coronavirus situation.