Cuttack. June 25: Orissa High Court on Monday refused to pass a stay order on conducting an election to choose a new chairman of Sambalpur Municipality scheduled for Tuesday.

Ousted chairperson of Sambalpur Municipality Reena Trivedi had filed a petition challenging her ouster after she lost the seat in a no-confidence motion and sought an interim restriction on the election.

But, the division bench of Chief Justice V. Gopala Gowda and Justice S.K. Mishra expressed disinclination to interfere in the election process and posted the petition for hearing on July 3.

Earlier, the high court had imposed restriction on the counting of votes on her petition against the voting following the moving of the no-confidence motion.

Accordingly, the voting was held on May 7, but the ballots were kept sealed in vote box. But on May 11, the high court rejected her petition and directed for vote counting. On counting of votes, it was found that 19 of the 23 councillors had voted for the no-confidence motion. Consequently, Reena Trivedi lost in the no-confidence motion on May 14. The vice-chairperson of the civic body has since remained in charge of the town’s civic affairs.