SRI K.C. KONDAIAH Vs. STATE OF KARNATAKA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) By this petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioners have sought a writ of mandamus for enjoining the second respondent - the State Election Commission (for short 'SEC') to conduct elections to 6015 Grama Panchayats in the State of Karnataka before the expiry of five years term, as provided in clause (3) (a) of Article 243E of the Constitution of India.

(2.) It is pointed out in the petition that the elections of 5844 Gram Panchayats were held on 29th May 2015 and 2nd June 2015 respectively. It is pointed out that by the end of October 2020, the term of all Grama Panchayats except 23 Grama Panchayats ended. The term of one Gram Panchayat will end in November 2020 and the term of 22 remaining Grama Panchayats will end in December, 2020. Reliance has been placed in the petition on Section 308-AA of the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act, 1993 (for short 'the said Act of 1993'). It is submitted that as per the provisions of Section 308- AA, the SEC was under an obligation to complete the elections before the expiry of the current term of all the Gram Panchayats.

(3.) Apart from claiming a writ of mandamus as referred above, the challenge is to an order made on 28th May, 2020 (Annexure-A) passed by the SEC, temporarily postponing the elections to all the Gram Panchayats in the State, owing to an extraordinary situation created by the spread of COVID - 19.