Overview
- The Supreme Court set aside a Uttarakhand High Court interim order that had directed allotment of a symbol to Narendra Singh Deopa to contest a Zila Panchayat seat.
- Invoking Article 243‑O, the bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta held that high courts cannot use writ jurisdiction where an election‑petition remedy exists under state law.
- The Court said individual grievances must not stall elections, faulting the Uttarakhand division bench for intervening after Sandeep Singh Bora was declared elected unopposed and without hearing him.
- The Allahabad High Court held that current law provides no basis for pre‑emptive deregistration or blanket bans on parties for caste or religion‑based appeals, noting such powers can only come from Parliament.
- The Lucknow bench directed strict implementation of the Uttar Pradesh government’s order prohibiting caste‑based political rallies and observed that lasting change also depends on values imparted in families and schools.