Itanagar, Nov 18: The State Election Commission on Wednesday said that the decision to hold local body polls was not unilateral but has been made strictly in compliance with the High Court directives.
Ever since the SEC announced the dates for holding the Panchayat and Municipal elections on December 22, there has been a growing call to revoke the decision from political parties alike. The clarification today came in response to the representation the Commission received from the All Arunachal Pradesh Students’ Union (AAPSU) on November 17 which sought for a postponement of the polls.
Giving a clear message that the decision was not unilateral on their part, the SEC said that announcement of elections for both Panchayat and Municipal bodies has been made strictly in compliance with High Court directives dated 19/07/2018, 30/11/2018 in WP (C) No. 231(AP) 2018 in respect of Panchayat and judgment and orders dated 20/09/2018, 3/12/2018 and dated 25/09/2019 in PIL No. 22(AP) 2018 followed by contempt case No. 49(AP) 2019/1956-59. 
The release also asserted that the delay in conducting local body elections was not made by the SEC, but by the state government due to various reasons such as amendment of Acts/Rules for both PRI and Municipal bodies, finalization of women reservations, notification on delimitation of Municipal bodies etc., which are mandatorily required for conducting elections.
Giving the chronological details, the Commission said that state government’s clearance arrived on January 20, 2020 with an advisory that elections may be held during April/May 2020. “Unfortunately, when the SEC was fully prepared to announce the elections, COVID-19 situation arose, compelling the state to go into lockdown and in exercise of plenary powers under 243K of the Constitution of India, the said elections were put on hold by the Commission,” the release read. “After more than 6 months with the issue of Unlock 4 and 5 orders by the Government of India, relaxations including political activities were granted,” the release mentioned, citing the examples of recent Bihar assembly polls and bye-elections in as many as 10 states all over India conducted successfully by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The SEC further added that local body elections have also taken place in many states such as Mizoram, Rajasthan etc. despite the pandemic situation through observance of SOPs and safety guidelines. Attributing the delay in announcement of the elections to the constitutional mandate and above High Court directives, the SEC informed that it has finalized the necessary guidelines/SOPs to be followed by election officials, candidates and political parties, along with fixing of respective stakeholder’s responsibilities.

Regarding the allegations of superimposition of electoral roll, the SEC clarified that in view of the delay in issue of notification for delimitation of Municipal bodies and in exercise of powers conferred under Section 17(2) of the Arunachal Pradesh Municipal Act, 2009, it has revised the electoral rolls of Legislative Assembly as on January 1, 2020 by following and adopting all procedures issued by the ECI for the purpose of conducting Municipal elections. 
Regarding Panchayat electoral roll, the SEC informed that it has already been updated by carrying out Summary Revision with January 1, 2020 as the qualifying date and the exercise of electoral roll revision is carried out by the Electoral Registration Officers in district level only.
Meanwhile, regarding the temporary settlers and refugees issue in Vijoynagar, the SEC has clarified that it is the subject of the state government to take a policy decision and not within its purview. However, the issue has been referred to the Deputy Commissioner of Changlang for his considered views, the release added. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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