The Jharkhand High Court on Thursday passed the order which was kept reserved since January 4,restoring the decision of single bench in which the state government was asked to hold local body polls as soon as possible. 

The double bench headed by acting Chief Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad and Justice Arun Kumar Rai heard the petition filed by Roshni Khalko and the state government. 

The court restored the decision of the single bench which was challenged by the state government vs Roshni Khalko and directed it to hold the local body polls at the earliest.  

Incidentally, Jharkhand High Court on January 5  had asked Hemant Soren government to issue notification for municipal elections within three weeks. 

In the case of four councillors- Roshni Khalko, Vinod Singh, Sunil Yadav and Arun Jha had 

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. 

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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.

However, Jharkhand Government opposed them citing the Supreme Court’s order in the case Vikas Kishan Rao vs Maharashtra Government’s writ petition number 980/2019 and argued that there is a clear instruction of the Supreme Court that civic/panchayat elections should not be conducted without conducting triple test formalities for identifying seats to be reserved for OBC category.

But in its January 5 order, the Jharkhand High Court had observed that non-completion of the 'triple test formalities' for identifying seats to be reserved for OBC category is not at all a ground to defer or delay election of local self-government. And Jystice Ananda Sen observed, “the Hon'ble Supreme Court had directed that the Election should be notified even if the “triple test formalities”are not complete.

In view of this order,the petitioners argued that municipal elections have not been conducted in Jharkhand yet. Responding to the Jharkhand government’s plea, petitioner Roshni Khalkho’s advocate Vinod Singh councillor that the government is not only violating the 74th Constitutional Amendment but is also misleading the court by giving incomplete answers. 

The last municipal elections were conducted in Jharkhand in April 2018 and the term of the councillors had lapsed in 2023. 

The court directive has gained significance since the Assembly polls are due by end of the year 2024. However, the Hemant Soren government has two options.One, to conduct the municipal polls simultaneously with the upcoming Assembly polls. Two, challenge the above court’s order in the Supreme Court.JharkhandStateNews.com will keep a watch on its move.