Jharkhand HC asks state govt to hold municipal polls within three weeks | Ranchi News - Times of India

Source: The Times of India

Ranchi: The decks have been cleared for the long awaited civic elections in the state capital. The Jharkhand high court on Thursday ordered the state government to conduct the elections of councillors of the Ranchi Municipal Corporation. The court also set a deadline of three weeks for government to conduct the elections of the civic body.

The court of Justice Ananda Sen was hearing the matter filed by former ward councillors -- Roshni Khalko, Vinod Singh, Sunil Yadav and Arun Jha -- for the delay in conducting the elections by the Corporation.The last elections were conducted in April 2018 and the term of the councillors had lapsed in 2023.

The councillors pleaded before the court that the Municipal Act provides for conducting elections for appointment of candidates in different posts every five years by the state government. The government is sitting idle on the issue and has not taken steps to issue a notification for conducting the elections.

The petitioners also informed the high court that the term of five years of ward councillors has already been completed and fresh elections are awaited. They also pleaded before the court to enhance the term of their office beyond five years till the notification for the election is issued by the government.

The bench, however, had refrained from intervening in the point of enhancement of term of office of the existing ward councillors at this stage. The case will be posted for hearing again after four weeks.

Arguing on behalf of the ward councillors, their advocate Binod Singh informed the court that delay in conducting the elections of the civic body has created hindrances in the different welfare schemes of the corporation which in turn affect the people of the city.

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