HC restrains UP govt from issuing notification for ULB polls till Dec 20

Allahabad High Court extends till December 20 its order restraining Uttar Pradesh state election commission from issuing a notification for urban local body polls

The Allahabad High Court on Wednesday extended till December 20 its order restraining the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission from issuing a notification to conduct urban local body elections in the state.

The Lucknow bench of the court was hearing a petition alleging that the reservation process for the OBC (Other Backward Classes) was not followed for the urban local bodies by the state government.

On Wednesday, the state government sought three day's time to file a counter affidavit, which a bench headed by Justice D K Upadhyay accepted and extended its order restraining issuing of notification for urban local body elections till December 20.

The bench on Monday restrained the poll authorities from issuing the notification till Tuesday, based on the PIL moved by Vaibhav Pandey and other petitioners.

The petitioners have challenged the December 5 notification whereby the state sought objections to fixing of quota, if any, till Monday evening.

The petitioners have alleged that the entire exercise of reservation of seats in municipalities throughout the state was being carried out in defiance of a Supreme Court verdict.

Opposing the plea, the state counsel argued it would only delay the election process, which would be against the very concept of the democratic setup of municipalities.

The state counsel also argued that the petitioners could submit their objection in pursuance to the government notification and hence, the petitions were premature at this stage.

Passing the order on Monday, the bench had said, "Prima facie, what we feel is that in case the state government had any intention to conduct the elections as per the mandate of the Supreme Court in the case of Suresh Mahajan, it would not have... included the seats reserved for the OBC even in the draft order notified by the impugned notification of Dec 5, 2022."

"Accordingly, it becomes imperative for us to ascertain as to whether in the process of reserving the seats for the purpose of elections of the urban local bodies of Uttar Pradesh, the state government is following the mandate of the Suresh Mahajan case or not, hence we entertain these petitions and direct the State counsel to seek complete instructions by Tuesday," it said.