THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The High Court verdict has come as a major setback to the political position taken by the Muslim League which was the lone party in UDF insisting till last, on holding elections in all newly formed local bodies as per the 2015 delimitation.
The League had even pressed for extending the polls. However, after an adverse verdict it had climbed down from its earlier position.
The party was accused by the opposition of influencing the delimitation process to suit its political interests and gain an upper hand in the ensuing local bodies’ polls.
Meanwhile the opposition has hit out at the UDF Government for its attempt to torpedo the democratic process.
CPM state secretariat said that the UDF Government had tried to sabotage the constitutional responsibility bestowed with the State Election Commission to have governing councils in the local bodies by November 1, 2015.
The present situation had arisen because of the attempts made by ruling front parties to influence the delimitation process for its vested political interests. The court verdict has totally rejected such anti democratic methods of the UDF Government, it said.
It said while the court had earlier directed the SEC to comply with the constitutional obligation, the government had tried to exert pressure to prevent the commission from discharging its responsibilities.
It urged the commission to discharge its constitutional responsibility as directed by the High Court, he added.
CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran said the court verdict was a major setback to the state governments anti constitutional methods to jeopardize the democratic processes.
The commission had already made it clear that there was no hurdle in holding elections to 1400 local bodies. However, the government had tried to apply pressure on it to postpone it for vested political interests.
Mr Rajendran said that the Election Commission should not succumb to the pressure of the government and hand over the local bodies to the bureaucrats. It should implement the constitutional responsibility bestowed with it for completing the process in time.
