The Supreme Court today dismissed the Uttarakhand State Election Commission's challenge to a High Court order which stayed its clarificatory circular allowing candidates with names in multiple electoral rolls to contest panchayat elections.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta passed the order and imposed a cost of Rs.2 lakhs on the SEC. "How can you decide contrary to the statutory provision?", posed Justice Nath to SEC's counsel.

To recap, the High Court passed the impugned order in a petition filed by respondent No.1 highlighting several instances where persons with names in multiple voter lists were being allowed to contest the elections.

The clarification issued by the SEC stated thus:

“the nomination paper of a candidate will not be rejected only on the ground that

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