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Lucknow . In an important order, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Thursday froze the financial and administrative powers of Lucknow Mayor Sushma Kharkwal. This action has been taken in the case of not administering oath to the elected councilor. This case is to Ward No. 73 Faizullaganj of Lucknow. The sessions court had declared Lalit Kishore Tiwari elected to the post of councilor. However, even after five months have passed since he was declared elected, he has not been sworn in yet. The High Court has given instructions by adopting a strict stance in this matter. The Court has made it clear that until the councilor declared elected by the Court is sworn in, the financial and administrative powers of the Mayor will remain frozen.

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During the Lucknow Municipal Elections-2023, there was a direct contest between BJP candidate Pradeep Kumar Shukla alias Tinku Shukla and Samajwadi Party candidate Lalit Tiwari. In the counting of votes, Pradeep Kumar Shukla got 4,972 votes and Lalit Tiwari got 3,298 votes. On this basis Pradeep Kumar Shukla was declared elected. After the election results were declared, Samajwadi Party candidate Lalit Tiwari had filed a petition in the court. It was alleged that BJP candidate Pradeep Kumar Shukla had not given some necessary information in the election forms while filing nomination papers. It was legally necessary to give this information. It was also said in the petition that this mistake made in the nomination process is a violation of election rules. This should be considered in the category of misconduct. On this basis, the election of Pradeep Kumar Shukla was challenged. There was also a demand to cancel the election results.

The election was canceled five months ago

The dispute that arose in Ward-73 Faizullaganj (III) regarding the Municipal Corporation Councilor reached the court of Additional District Judge of Lucknow on May 13, 2023. After a hearing that lasted for about two and a half years, the court had given its verdict on the basis of the affidavit, affidavit and review report of the election form filed at the time of elections. The court looked at the available documents, facts and arguments. The court found that not providing necessary information during nomination is a serious irregularity. This affects the validity of the election. On this basis the court had canceled the election of Pradeep Kumar Shukla. Also, Lalit Tiwari was declared elected from Ward-73.

procrastination in administering oath

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Councilor Lalit Kishore said that despite being elected, he was not sworn in. In this regard, he told the tribunal that he was declared elected on 19 December 2025, but the oath has not been administered. Meanwhile the former elected members are still discharging their responsibilities. During the hearing, the Court found that the District Magistrate had informed the Municipal Commissioner, Lucknow about the decision of the Election Tribunal on 23 January and 10 February 2026. He had also given instructions to complete the process of administering the oath under Section 85. Apart from this, the state government had also issued instructions for necessary action in this regard on 4 February 2026. On May 12, the High Court once again ordered Lalit Tiwari to take oath within a week. On this, the order was challenged by Pradeep Kumar Shukla by filing an SLP in the Supreme Court, which was canceled by the court. Despite this, when no action was taken, the High Court had ordered Lucknow Mayor, District Magistrate and Municipal Commissioner to personally appear in the court and answer.