Nainital: Uttarakhand High Court heard together three PILs filed against inclusion of names of outsiders in voter list for Panchayat elections in Budhlakote Gram Sabha of Nainital district, several Gram Sabhas of Udham Singh Nagar and Badkot Uttarkashi Municipality.
Hearing on objection in voter list: After hearing the case, the division bench of Chief Justice G. Narendra and Justice Alok Mehra disposed of all three petitions and said that now the elections have been completed. If any voter or candidate has a problem with this, then he can file an election petition again.
State Election Commission presented its side: The State Election Commission, while presenting its side in the court, said that the Commission has observed the voter list on the complaint of the petitioner. The voters whose names were found wrong in the voter list have been removed after investigation. Along with this, it was also said that the VDO (Village Development Officer) has suspended those whose names were included in the voter list without verification. The same action is going on in Barkot Uttarkashi as well.
This objection was raised in the petition: According to the case, Akash Bora, a resident of Budhlakote, has filed a PIL saying that the names of 82 voters from outside the area have been included in the voter list of his village. Most of these people are from the state of Orissa and other places. When he complained about this to the SDM, he constituted an investigation committee in this.
What did the investigation committee find: The investigation committee observed the voter list and found that 18 of these people are from outside. But even after the final list was released, the names of the 18 identified people were not removed from the voter list. After filing the PIL, a list of 30 other such people was also presented in the court by him. No action was taken on this even after complaining.
The High Court bench asked this: After the hearing, the commission said that some people have been identified. While preparing the voter list, the BLO went door to door to identify the voters. The voter list was prepared on that basis. But the court asked the commission that when the voter list was prepared, did they check the Aadhar card, voter ID or ration card or documents related to permanent residence of the voters at that time. If yes, then present its record. Or on the basis of the name being told verbally, their name was included in the voter list.
The results of the Panchayat elections have been declared: It is worth noting that the result of Uttarakhand Panchayat Elections 2025 has been declared. All the results of the 358 posts of District Panchayat members have come. Results of 2,972 out of 2,974 posts of area panchayat members have come. Results of 7,479 out of 7,499 posts of Pradhan Gram Panchayat members have come, results are yet to come on 20 seats.
