'Staying election, a grave thing, will result in chaos,' SC refuses to halt ongoing Punjab gram panchayat polls

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on declined to halt the Panchayat polls underway across Punjab on October 15, saying to stay an election is a grave thing and, in a democracy, elections are valued.

There will be "chaos" if courts start staying elections on polling day, the top court felt.

A bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, however, agreed to hear a plea against the Punjab and Haryana High Court's order which refused to interfere in the matter.

A counsel asked the court to urgently list a matter in connection with the alleged irregularities in the Punjab gram panchayat election. The counsel urged the court to stay an order passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on Monday.

The petitioners approached the apex court challenging the high court order, which cleared the way for the panchayat election in Punjab by dismissing a bunch of petitions alleging irregularities in the nomination process.

Currently, the polling for gram panchayats is underway in Punjab since 8 am.

On request by the counsel, the bench said, "If polling has started today how can the court intervene?"

The counsel, however, insisted on a stay on the high court order.

However, the bench said the high court had realised the gravity of the matter and vacated the stay on the elections. The bench made it clear to the counsel that it is not keen to stay the high court order now.

The bench also said the polling is underway now, and if the court were to stay the election then it would result in chaos.

The court also emphasised that staying an election is a "grave thing".

The counsel contended that staying the high court order is important.

The bench said it will list the matter for hearing, but it will not stay the election.

The counsel claimed that it was an "unusual situation".

On this, the bench said, “We value elections, you have remedies in election petitions...We will not stay, least of all when elections have begun”.

"Once the polling is open do you realize the gravity of what you are asking. Tomorrow somebody will say stay a parliamentary election or a state legislative election after polling is open, can you imagine the consequences,” the bench told the counsel.

Another counsel cited the order passed by the apex court in the Chandigarh mayoral election matter.

The court, however, said it will list the matter for hearing but made it clear that it will not pass an interim order now.

Notably, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had dismissed around 1,000 petitions seeking cancellation of panchayat elections. Earlier, the high court had stayed the poll process.