Supreme Court sets aside elections in 50 Punjab municipal wards over obstruction of nominations

The Supreme Court has set aside elections in 50 municipal wards across Punjab's Patiala and Moga districts after a court-appointed inquiry found that candidates were assaulted, threatened and prevented from filing their nomination papers.

A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana directed fresh elections to be held within six weeks, with the process to be monitored by a committee comprising a retired High Court judge.

The order was passed on September 28 on petitions alleging widespread interference in municipal elections, including physical assaults, snatching of nomination papers and failure to videograph nominations despite High Court directions.

In March 2025, the Supreme Court had appointed former Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice Nirmaljit Kaur to investigate the disputed allegations.

The inquiry found that nomination papers were snatched, torn or destroyed, while candidates were assaulted, detained or threatened.

In Patiala, elections in 28 wards were found vitiated, primarily because opposition candidates were prevented from filing nominations or contesting. The inquiry also recorded evidence of bogus or multiple voting and intimidation in two other wards, without concluding that these irregularities necessarily changed the results.

In Moga district, elections in seven Dharamkot wards were found vitiated due to obstruction, coerced withdrawals or wrongful rejection of nominations. All 15 wards in Baghapurana were similarly affected by systematic obstruction of opposition candidates.

Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the State of Punjab, informed the Court that the State had no objection to accepting the inquiry recommendations.

The Court consequently directed the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to appoint a monitoring committee within one week and nominate two or three senior lawyers as election observers.

The nomination process, allocation of symbols and polling must be videographed. Complaints of interference can be examined by the committee and referred to the High Court Chief Justice for appropriate judicial action.

The results can be declared only after the High Court Chief Justice is satisfied, on the committee's report, that the elections were conducted fairly.

The Court clarified that its directions were confined to the peculiar facts of the case and would not constitute a precedent for future by-elections.

[Read Order]