The Supreme Court on Friday put on hold the elections for the local bodies in nine new districts, carved out of four existing ones, in Tamil Nadu for complying with legal formalities such as delimitation and reservation in four months.
The top court, however, said the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission could proceed with the elections to all panchayats at village, intermediate and district levels, in the remaining 31 revenue districts of the southern state.
A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde took note of the fact that at the time of completion of the delimitation process, there were only 31 districts in Tamil Nadu.
But despite a subsequent increase in the number of districts, no fresh delimitation exercise was undertaken and thus, "it is clear that the state government cannot fulfil the constitutional mandate", the bench, also comprising justices B R Gavai and Surya Kant, said.
It said there was no "identified data elucidating population proportions" for providing the requisite reservation to members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in both village panchayat wards and the district bodies.
"We, hence, have no doubt that the election process as notified by the state election commission on December 2, 2019, in respect of the newly-constituted nine districts cannot be held unless a fresh delimitation exercise in respect thereto is first completed," the bench said.
The verdict considered the suggestion put forth by the Tamil Nadu government that it was willing to put on hold the local body polls in the nine districts for complying with legal formalities such as a fresh delimitation exercise and for deciding the issue of reservation for women and SC/ST candidates.
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"The respondents (including the Delimitation Commission) are directed to delimit the nine newly-constituted districts in accordance with law and thereafter, hold elections for their panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels within a period of four months," the bench said.
It added that there shall be "no legal impediment" against holding elections for panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels for the rest of the districts.
While conducting the polls, the authorities "shall provide a proportionate reservation at all levels in accordance with the rules", the bench said.
The nine reconstituted districts, where the polls will not be held, are Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Vellore, Thirupatthur, Ranipeti, Villupuram, Kallakuruchi, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi.
The state election commission had, on Monday, announced that the local body polls in Tamil Nadu will be held in two phases -- on December 27 and 30 -- without complying with the formalities.
The apex court bench had given the state government two options and asked it to either agree to keep the bifurcation of the districts in abeyance or not hold the local body polls for the nine new districts.
The counsel for the state government had subsequently informed the court that it was willing to put on hold the polls in the nine districts and the process will continue for the local bodies of the other districts.
The top court's order came on a plea moved by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), seeking a direction to the state authorities to "carry out delimitation, reservation and rotation process and fulfil all other legal requirements, before issuing any election notifications and conducting elections" for the local bodies in the state.
The counsel for the state government had, on Thursday, referred to various court verdicts and said once the poll process, even an imperfect one, was set in motion, no court could or should delay or postpone it.
However, the court had said the law on delimitation needed to be followed after the bifurcation or trifurcation of four districts into nine, even if it involved postponement of elections.
The DMK, in its plea, had said there were three processes -- commission delimitation of each ward of all the local bodies, reservation of the office of chairman or mayor in a town panchayat, municipality or corporation and the rotation policy, which were to be carried out by the state government and the Tamil Nadu Delimitation Commission, which was then to be implemented by the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission.
The party had alleged that the Tamil Nadu government was dragging its feet on conducting the polls and had not carried out the delimitation activity for the nine new districts, and claimed that in many districts, even the preliminary delimitation exercise was not conducted.
The plea said: "The basic legal requirement of publishing draft delimitation proposal/order has not been carried out and in the absence of such publication, neither any objections have been invited or received, nor any hearing has been conducted.
"The delimitation authority has also not carried out rotation and reservation of seats, exercise subsequent to publication of draft delimitation order. Hence, the state election commission has so far not carried out and completed basic legal formalities and therefore, cannot be permitted to hold local body polls in a manner which would not be fair and free and would also be contrary to the mandatory legal requirements.