Karnataka govt has taken away our powers: Election Commission tells High Court

Bengaluru, May 17: The Karnataka State Election Commission has informed the High Court that the state government had taken away its powers to conduct polls for Zilla Panchayat and Taluk Panchayats as mandated by the Supreme Court.

The Commission filed a memo before a vacation division bench of the High Court comprising Justice SG Pandit and Justice MG Uma after the Supreme Court direction to hold the ZP-TP elections immediately, last week.

On asking why the Commission had approached the court instead of following the apex court's orders, the counsel informed the Court that the State Government had withdrawn the Election Commission's power on delimitation of constituencies and drawing up the reservation list.

Without these the State EC was unable to announce the election schedule. The State had formed a separate panel for the delimitation and reservation even though the EC had completed the exercise on its own.

The EC had challenged this before the High Court. The court observed that a detailed examination of the petition was necessary and adjourned the hearing to May 23. PTI