Jaipur: Rajasthan high court Thursday issued contempt notices to the State Election Commission, State Election Commissioner Rajeshwar Singh and SEC secretary Rajesh Verma over delays in holding panchayat and municipal elections, questioning why the poll panel issued a voter list revision schedule that runs past the court-set deadline.The notices were issued by a division bench of Acting Chief Justice SP Sharma and Justice Shubha Mehta while hearing a contempt petition filed by former Congress MLA Sanyam Lodha.The court noted the presence of advocate general Rajendra Prasad for the state but, for now, did not issue notices to the state govt.Punit Singhvi, counsel for the petitioner, argued that both the state govt and the election commission were deliberately delaying the polls, amounting to direct contempt of HC’s orders. “The commission has scheduled publication of final voter list by April 22, making it impossible to conduct elections by the April 15 deadline set by the court,” Singhvi said.
