Jaipur: As Rajasthan’s urban local body elections lurched through a fractured and fast-moving 48 hours, the Rajasthan High Court emerged as the institution candidates and their supporters repeatedly turned to for urgent relief.The court broke its holiday routine on Sunday and Monday, constituting special benches at both Jaipur and Jodhpur to hear urgent election-related petitions. Proceedings in some matters stretched late into the night, underlining how judicial intervention became central to keeping parts of the election process moving.Around 10 election-related petitions were taken up across the two benches over Sunday and Monday, with matters ranging from disputes affecting the election process to pleas seeking protection and voting-related relief.The urgency was most apparent in Jodhpur, where Justice Dr Nupur Bhati presided over proceedings that continued till around 12.30am Monday. Nine urgent matters were listed Sunday, with most of them disposed of.In Jaipur, Justice Anoop Kumar Dhand heard matters concerning Kekri and Tijara, including disputes that had a direct bearing on the conduct of elections. Separate benches of Justices Kuldeep Mathur and Sunil Beniwal also heard election-linked matters during the weekend.Orders passed by the court included interim protection from coercive action and directions extending voting hours in election-related disputes, coming at a time when civic poll process was witnessing rapid, and in some cases messy, developments on the ground.For candidates and their supporters caught in procedural disputes and fast-closing poll timelines, the midnight hearings became decisive interventions in an election process.
