SC refuses to stay ongoing polling for Punjab panchayat elections

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to stay the ongoing panchayat elections in Punjab, saying there will be "chaos" if courts start staying elections on polling day.

The polling for panchayat elections began at 8 am on Tuesday in the state and the petitions, seeking a stay on them, were mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud.

"If polling has started today, how can we intervene at this stage? Probably the high court realised the gravity of it and vacated the stay on the elections," the bench, which also comprised justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said.

"There will be chaos if we stay the polling that too on the polling day," the CJI said.

The top court, however, agreed to hear the pleas challenging the Punjab and Haryana High Court decision allowing panchayat polls in Punjab.

In a significant development, the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently dismissed around 1,000 petitions seeking cancellation of panchayat elections.

Earlier, the high court had stayed the poll process.