Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday welcomed the Supreme Court allowing the State Election Commission to issue a notification regarding the urban local body polls in the state.
In a tweet in Hindi, Adityanath said, “Accepting the report of the OBC Commission by the Honourable Supreme Court, and the orders to conduct the urban local body elections is welcome. The UP government is committed to conduct the urban local body elections in a time-bound manner, while following the rules of reservation in a lawful manner.” The Supreme Court on Monday paved the way for holding the urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh as it allowed the State Election Commission to issue a notification in this regard in two days with an OBC quota in terms of a report of the Uttar Pradesh Backward Classes Commission.
A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said, “This court, in an order dated 4 January, 2023, noted that in view of the decisions of this court, the government of Uttar Pradesh issued a notification for setting up the Uttar Pradesh Backward Classes Commission in December 2022. Though the tenure of the commission was six months, it was to complete its task by 31 March, 2023.” It further said, “The solicitor general informs that the report has been submitted on 9 March, 2023 to the cabinet. The process of notifying the local body elections is going on and will be done in two days. The plea is disposed of. The direction in this order is not to be used as precedent.” On January 4, the top court stayed an Allahabad High Court order directing the holding of the urban local body polls without any reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs).
It had also ordered that the panel appointed by the state government to decide on issues related to the grant of the OBC quota for the local body polls will have to conclude its exercise within three months (by 31 March), instead of six months as stipulated earlier.
Earlier, the state government had moved the apex court with its appeal against a 27 December, 2022 order of the high court, saying the latter cannot quash the draft notification issued on 5 December last year, which provided for reservation of seats in the urban civic body polls for the OBCs, apart from those for the Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs) and women.
The appeal said that the OBCs are a constitutionally-protected section and the high court erred in quashing the draft notification.