HC seeks govt reply on delay in Kichha nagar palika elections

Dehradun: Uttarakhand high court on Friday, while hearing a petition alleging delay in conducting elections to the Kichha Nagar Palika in Udham Singh Nagar despite the reservation being finalised, fixed the next hearing for March 17. During the hearing, the petitioner told the court that the civic body had been run by an administrator for the past one-and-a-half years. It was also submitted that elections to other nagar palikas in the state had already been conducted, but polls for Kichha Nagar Palika were yet to be held.According to the petition, Kichha resident Naimul Husain and others said the state govt issued a notification on Dec 14, 2024 proposing reservation for 43 nagar palika chairperson posts and invited objections from the public. However, the notification did not mention reservation for the Kichha Nagar Palika chairperson post, raising concerns that the govt intended to delay the elections there.The petitioners argued that, under reservation rules, roster-based allocation should be determined based on the total number of nagar palika chairperson posts. However, the govt prepared the roster considering only 43 posts.They also submitted that the govt had earlier merged some wards of Kichha Nagar Palika with nearby villages, a move that was stayed by the HC. The govt later re-merged these areas back into the nagar palika. Despite the reservation now being finalised, the petitioners alleged that efforts were still being made to delay the civic body elections.The petitioners told the court that it had earlier directed the govt to finalise the reservation for Kichha Nagar Palika, which has since been done, but elections are yet to be conducted. They urged the court to direct the authorities to hold the elections at the earliest.