Mnp HC directs state govt to hold panchayat polls within six months

The High Court of Manipur on Friday directed the Manipur government to conduct the long-pending elections to the Gram Panchayat within six months.
The court also struck down the state government’s order extending the tenure of Panchayat bodies through administrative committees, declaring it unconstitutional and contrary to the democratic mandate.
The elections to gram panchayats were delayed for the last three years. The tenure of the 5th Gram Panchayat had ended in October 2022. However, the elections for the 6th Gram Panchayat have not yet been conducted citing various reasons on the part of the Manipur government.
In the backdrop of this delay, the state government, during N Biren Singh BJP’s coalition government had appointed administrative committees to oversee local governance, a move that has been widely criticized for bypassing democratic processes. Keeping aside widespread criticisms, the state government has been extending the six-month tenure of these administrative committees from time to time till date.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kempaiah Somashekar and Justice A Guneshwar Sharma delivered the judgment on Friday while disposing of three writ appeals related to the delay in holding the elections to the panchayat bodies and appointment of administrative committees,
The court held that the five-year tenure of panchayats, as guaranteed under Article 243E of the Constitution and section 20 of the Manipur Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, cannot be extended under any circumstance.
Clarifying the legal position, the bench ruled that Section 22 of the Manipur Panchayati Raj Act, 1994, relied upon by the state, was a transitional provision intended only for the period immediately following the first establishment of Panchayats. It cannot be invoked repeatedly to postpone elections or prolong the tenure of elected representatives.
The court further held that administrative committees or administrators can serve only as a temporary arrangement for a maximum of six months, and cannot indefinitely substitute elected bodies. It rejected the contention that outgoing Panchayat members could continue in office until elections are held, stating that once the five-year term expires, members become functus officio (without authority). The bench also observed that section 109 of the Act, which empowers the state to remove difficulties, cannot override constitutional provisions or be misused to delay elections.
Directing restoration of grassroots democracy, the court ordered the Manipur State Election Commission to conduct the long-delayed 6th general panchayat elections at the earliest in consultation with the state government.
The ruling came after the state government challenged a 2023 single judge order that had allowed outgoing panchayat members in six valley districts – Imphal East, Imphal West, Thoubal, Bishnupur, Kakching and Jiribam – to continue in office until elections were held. The division bench has now set aside that order, reaffirming that local self-governance must rest with duly elected representatives.
Panchayati Raj Adhoc Committee, a body of the elected zila parishad members, pradhans and members of the gram panchayat of the 5th Gram Panchayat, welcomed the judgment.
Addressing a news conference committee chairman Pheiroijam Heramani said that the Panchayat election, last held in 2017, has been kept pending till now, thereby depriving the people of their democratic and constitutional rights under the Panchayati Raj system.
He alleged that instead of conducting elections timely, the government had formed administrative committees to run Panchayat affairs, which went against the spirit of democracy.
To restore the rights of the people, he said, the committee filed a case in court, leading to the recent directive to hold elections within a period of six month.