Haldwani, Oct. 1 -- The Uttarakhand high court on Wednesday directed authorities to conduct the counting of votes for the recently held municipal elections in Kichha and Sirauli Kalan in Udham Singh Nagar district within three weeks. A division bench of Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta and justice Subhash Upadhyay was hearing petitions challenging orders of the State Election Commission and the state government deferring the counting. The state government had sought two more weeks to conduct the counting, citing law and order concerns following disturbances at polling booths and a strong room during the September 22 elections. It told the court that the ballot papers were sealed in ballot boxes and that arrangements to ensure peaceful counting and declaration of results were required . The court, however, granted three weeks for the counting instead of the two weeks sought by the government. In an earlier hearing, the court had stayed the State Election Commission's order deferring the counting and directed that the process be initiated, noting that the elections were already conducted and there was no apparent reason to halt the counting. The matter was initiated after a petition by Kichha resident Alina Malik sought directions for counting of votes. During an earlier hearing before a single-judge bench, the State Election Commission informed the court that polling for both municipalities was held on September 22, but counting had been deferred until further orders. The single-judge bench had listed the matter for October 5. Several petitions, including a PIL filed by Kichha resident Naimul Hussain, were subsequently heard by the division bench. The petitioners alleged irregularities in determining reservation for municipal chairperson posts and claimed that the reservation status of the Kichha Municipal Council chairperson post was initially omitted from the state notification inviting objections. They also challenged the government's decision to prepare the reservation roster based on 43 municipal chairperson posts. They alleged that certain wards and villages were proposed to merge with Kichha municipality, a move that was stayed by the high court, before they were subsequently re-incorporated....