OBC Reservations: Big Win For Adityanath Government As Supreme Court Clears The Way For UP Local Body Polls

In a big win for the Yogi Adityanath government, the Supreme Court on Monday (27 March) gave its nod to conduct Uttar Pradesh Urban Local Body elections with the Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation, as proposed in its December order.

The court was convinced that the state fulfills the mandatory ‘triple test’ formula as laid down by the apex court in its previous judgements.

The court allowed the State Election Commission (SEC) to issue a notification in this regard in two days. UP now joins states like Madhya Pradesh in instituting reservations in local body polls.

A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud went through the report of the UP State Local Bodies Dedicated Backward Classes Commission, and set aside the Allahabad High Court’s decision (27 December) that stayed local body polls with OBC quotas.

The Uttar Pradesh State Local Bodies Dedicated Backward Classes Commission was formed by the Adityanath government after the High Court’s stay. It submitted its report on 9 March.

“The direction in this order is not to be used as precedent,” said the bench that also comprised of Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala.

The court also allowed the state government to appoint administrators to run the affairs of local bodies after the tenure of elected representatives ends.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the UP government, said that the commission had done a comprehensive exercise by gathering data in its 3,000-page report.

Chief Minister Adityanath welcomed the decision and affirmed his government’s commitment to conduct the elections as per the law in a tweet on Monday.

734 municipal bodies are set to go for elections now. The government had reserved four mayoral seats — Aligarh, Mathura-Vrindavan, Meerut, and Prayagraj — for OBC candidates. Aligarh and Mathrua-Vrindavan were reserved for OBC women.

Additionally, 54 seats for chairpersons in the 200 municipal councils were reserved for OBCs, including 18 women. Out of 545 nagar panchayat seats, 147 were reserved for OBCs, including 49 for women.