Uttar Pradesh government is yet to announce the date for the much-awaited urban local bodies’ polls in the state even as the term of the present local bodies expired on Monday.
Though the Urban Department declared the draft reservation of the wards and local bodies on December 5, the state government could not announce the dates of the municipal polls due to a petition filed in the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court.
The high court, on Tuesday, has asked the UP government not to issue notification of the elections till the matter is resolved. However, the court might give its verdict after hearing the case on Wednesday.
The petitioners in their plea before a division bench of the high court comprising Justice D K Upadhya and Justice Saurabh Srivastava alleged that the state government did not follow the procedure in implementing OBC reservation in municipal elections.
During today’s hearing, a demand was made on behalf of the state government to give one more time to reply, which was accepted by the court.
Several petitioners, including Vaibhav Pandey, had filed separate petitions accusing the state government of not following due process in implementing the OBC reservation in civic elections. It has been alleged that despite clear guidelines of the Supreme Court, the state government issued a draft notification on December 5, without triple test, which also included the seats reserved for OBCs.
Opposing the petition on behalf of the state government, the counsel said that such petitions would delay the holding of elections. It was also argued that the notification, dated December 5, is a draft notification and, the petitioner or any person can file objections to it.
Elections are slated for around 758 urban local bodies including 17 corporations in the state.