Dimapur, April 11 (MExN): The Supreme Court, on April 12, will resume a crucial hearing on the issue of elections to Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in Nagaland, weeks after it noted with regret that “an important aspect of gender equality seems to be getting postponed and a decade has passed on that behalf.”
During the last hearing on February 22, a bench of justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh took the Government of Nagaland to task over what it termed as a ‘lackadaisical attitude’ over the issue.
In an order, it further stated that the State Government was not responding to the request of the Election Commission for conduct of summary revision of E-rolls for three Municipal Councils, 29 Town Councils and fresh E-rolls for the newly created Town Councils in the State.
It was last revised in 2016, it observed, while granting six weeks’ time for the said purpose.
“We make it clear that a date has to be pointed out to us on the next date for completing the exercise,” it added.
The Court also directed the state to respond to the state Election Commission within two weeks and said, “Any non-compliance by the state will be treated as a violation of this court’s order.”
After the court directive, the State Government held a consultative meeting of all stakeholders including mass based civil society, church organisations, tribal hohos, political parties and NGOs at the State Banquet Hall on March 9 to discuss the issue.
After the meeting, a notification from the Government claimed that the meeting “unanimously” adopted a resolution that “The elections to the ULBs should be conducted as per the 74th Amendment Act of the Constitution of India.”
The ‘unanimous’ decision since then has been contested from many quarters and the issue is yet to be resolved comprehensively.
It remains to be seen what the State Government counsel would submit to the Bench regarding the earlier directives and subsequent chain of events thereafter.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) and others relating to the elections for all the Municipalities and Town Councils in Nagaland.
