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Congress to go to court on panchayat poll

The Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee is planning to challenge the state's move to postpone the election to gram panchayats.

The government's claim is that it needs time to 'restructure the local bodies.'

The Congress plans to file a public interest litigation or writ of mandamus in the next couple of days seeking a direction to the government to hold the election on time, party spokesman B K Chandrashekar said.

Terming as "sad" Governor Khurshed Alam Khan's ordinance allowing restructuring, he said the government should hold the election before the expiry of the panchayat term.

The ordinance did not mention anything about postponing the poll -- in any case, the state election commission was not bound by the ordinance, he pointed out.

The Congress had petitioned the governor not to issue the ordinance.

The Congress supported the spirit behind Union Rural Development Minister Babagouda Patil's letter to cut funds to the state if the election was postponed, he said.

UNI

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