New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered fresh elections in 50 municipal wards in Punjab after a fact-finding commission found “widespread obstruction during the nomination process” in the local body polls.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana set aside elections in 50 wards – 28 in Patiala district and 22 in Moga.
The top court passed the order after accepting the findings of a one-member commission headed by former high court judge Nirmaljit Kaur.
The entire process of re-election shall be completed within 6 weeks,” the bench ordered. In the September 28 order, which was made available Wednesday, the bench took note of the fact that Kapil Sibal, appearing for the State of Punjab, “states that the State has no objection to the acceptance of the recommendations made by the Commission”.
To ensure that re-elections are conducted in a free, fair, and transparent manner, the top court asked the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to appoint, within one week, a monitoring committee comprising a retired judge of the HC to oversee the process.
