{irregularities in nomination filing} HC bench to hear 250 pleas today as panchayats go to polls tomorrow

Amidst charges of irregularities by the opposition parties and stay on elections in nearly 250 villages by Punjab and Haryana high court, the campaigning for panchayat elections ended on Sunday. Polling will take place on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, nearly 250 pleas challenging the election process, in which high court has given stay on elections, will be taken up by the regular division bench of justice Sureshwar Thakur and justice Sudeepti Sharma when the court reopens on Monday after the Dussehra break.
There are nearly 13,000 panchayats which are going to polls in Punjab. The state election commission has asked the deputy commissioners to video graph the polling process.
The Punjab state election commission has asked the deputy commissioners to ensure proper security arrangements in all polling stations. The voting will take place upto 4 pm and the results will be declared on the same day.
There are many more applications filed by the Shiromani Akali Dal and Congress workers, who were alleging that the ruling party didn’t allow them to file the nomination papers.
According to lawyers, in most cases procedure adopted by the administrations in rejecting the candidature for the posts of sarpanches/ panches has been challenged. In some cases, there are allegations of use of force, coercion etc.