Puducherry government seeks 24 months to conduct local body polls

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Puducherry government to conduct local body polls at the earliest, as the last such poll was held over 14 years ago.

A division bench of Chief Justice SA Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan recorded the Puducherry government's submission that 24 months would be required to complete the exercise and conduct the elections, and closed the petition. The bench directed the government to expedite the process and disposed of the writ petition.

Former MP and Puducherry Maanila Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam president M Ramadoss moved the plea seeking directions to the State Election Commission to notify and conduct local body elections in the Union Territory.

Ramadoss submitted that elections had not been held for over 14 years. He also pointed out that the Puducherry government had appointed a One-Man Commission on December 17, 2021, to assess backwardness and determine the ward-wise proportion of the OBC population in rural and urban areas. The commission was required to submit its report within six months, by June 16, 2022, but it remains pending for over four years.

He further submitted that several representations made to the State Election Commission seeking the conduct of elections had not been considered.

His counsel argued that the prolonged delay had deprived the people of Puducherry of elected local governance and their constitutional right to participate in democracy.

The Puducherry government, however, told the court that it had no intention of delaying the elections and that a legally sustainable reservation framework had to be put in place before the polls.

The Additional Government Pleader submitted that the One-Man Commission had now submitted its report to the government and that it was actively processing the recommendations. He also said the State Election Commission office was currently vacant.

The government sought 24 months to finalise the reservation framework, allot and rotate reserved wards and take consequential steps to conduct the elections.