In an indictment of the manner in which the Delhi government hurried into initiating the election process for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), the Delhi High Court on Tuesday stayed the poll process after noting that there was an unjustified "turnaround" over preparation of fresh voters' list as well as delimitation of certain constituencies.
As per the government notification, the election process was scheduled to begin on February 16 while the polling had to take place on March 11. The election will be held for 46 wards in the city. The term of the DSGMC is four years. Of the over a million Sikhs living in Delhi, 4.5 lakh are registered as DSGMC voters.
The court was adjudicating a petition by one Harmohan Singh, who had challenged the merger of the two voters' list and holding elections without delimitation.
Justice Vipin Sanghi directed the government to re-start the process of preparing the fresh electoral roll and complete the task within a month. The court also ordered the government, Gurdwara Election Directorate and the incumbent Committee to complete the process of delimitation as there has been an increase in the Sikh population in Delhi in recent years.
Observing that the entire process was "short-circuited" by the stakeholders, Justice Sanghi also restrained the government from issuing any further notification until the process of preparing fresh electoral roll and delimitation was concluded.
with thanks : Indian Express : link in headline above for detailed news.
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