Dehradun: State Election Commission on Monday informed Uttarakhand high court (HC) that polling for the municipal elections in Kichha and Sirauli Kalan in Udham Singh Nagar district will be held as scheduled on Tuesday. However, counting of votes will be deferred until further orders as a related case remains pending before the court.A single-judge bench of Justice Rakesh Thapliyal was hearing a petition seeking early elections in the two municipalities. The petitioners argued that the delay had stalled development work and affected municipal services. The court scheduled the next hearing for Oct 5.According to the case details, the petitioners said the state govt had issued a notification proposing reservation categories for chairperson posts in 43 municipal bodies and invited objections, but did not mention the reservation status of the Kichha municipal chairperson’s post. They also alleged that the govt had prepared the reservation roster on the basis of 43 chairperson posts instead of the total number of such posts, resulting in the delay in Kichha.The petition states that the govt had earlier proposed merging some wards and villages with Kichha municipality, a move the high court had stayed in 2024. The areas were later re-incorporated into the municipality, leading to a dispute over the elections.The petitioners said that although the reservation for the Kichha chairperson’s post was subsequently finalised following an earlier court order, elections were still not held. Elections to other urban local bodies had been held nearly a year ago, they said, alleging that the state govt was “deliberately delaying” the elections and treating Kichha “unfairly”. They also sought elections to the recently constituted Sirauli Kalan municipality.