Farmers Movement Archive

Dhanpat Singh is Haryana state election commissioner

The Haryana government on Thursday appointed former IAS officer Dhanpat Singh as the state election commissioner (SEC). A retired civil servant of the 1985-batch, Dhanpat Singh replaces Dr Dalip Singh, whose term ended on Thursday. He will be administered the oath of office by governor Satyadev Narayan Arya on Thursday evening for a tenure of four years. The SEC is vested with the power of superintendence, direction and control of the preparation of electoral rolls and conduct of all elections to gram panchayats and municipal bodies in the state. Also read: Covid lapses at farm stir may hit 4 statesHolding panchayat elections first challenge An immediate challenge for the new SEC will be to hold the panchayat elections that has been deferred on the grounds of the Covid pandemic and protests by farmers against the three farm laws. The term of the panchayats in the state ended on February 23. According to Article 243-E of the Constitution, an election to constitute a panchayat shall be completed before the expiry of its duration, which is five years from the date appointed for its first meeting. The BJP-JJP government has come in for criticism for delaying the elections. Past precedent of delay in holding polls A division bench of the Punjab and Haryana high court had in a 1999 order observed that the advocate general and SEC counsel had conceded that the September 30, 1999, order pertaining to preparation of electoral rolls for the panchayat and the municipal polls had been made in ignorance of the constitutional provisions contained in part IX and IX-A (Article 243) and the Panchayati Raj Act and Municipal Act and the order had in fact by implication, nullified a constitutional and statutory mandate. The bench was hearing a review application against the September 1999 orders filed by six petitioners, including two MLAs, for impleading them as respondent and also saying that elections of panchayats, panchayat samitis and zila parishad in Haryana, which were due to be held in December 1999, would be deferred if the voters’ lists were to be prepared afresh in compliance of the HC orders and that would result in non-compliance of the provisions of the Constitution to complete the panchayat elections before the expiry of their duration.

Hindustan Times

08-04-2021

Chandigarh