A picture used only for representation purposes. File | Photo Credit: Vivek Bendre
The Supreme Court on Tuesday (6 May 2025) gave the session for the management of local elections in the Mahara, which were held for years due to a lawsuit over reservations for other backward classes (OVC).
The bench of judges Surya Kant and N. Kotiswar Singh said that the constitutional mandate of the democracy of local elections must be secured and respected.
The court stated that the Civil Code reservation for elections must be maintained because it existed before the submission of the JK Banthia Commission report. The Banthia Commission provided 27% of the Civil Code in the elections of local authorities.
Local elections in the state in the State have been stuck since 2022 due to court proceedings on the reservation of the Civil Code. The Supreme Court ordered the status quo to reserve the municipalities in the local elections in the body in August 2022. In addition, the petition also questioned the report of Banthia in court.
In its interim order, the bench ordered the State Election Commission to announce local elections within four weeks.
The court stated that the election process should be completed in four months, but allowed the election commission to approach it if the next time was required.
“Today, the bureaucrats occupy all municipal corporations and Panchayats and make fundamental political decisions. As a result of this court dispute, a complete democratic process has been stopped. Officers have no responsibility. The judiciary Kant asked the general lawyer Tushar Mehta and appeared for Maharashtra.
Senior Advocate Indira Jaising stated for the petitioner’s party that the Banthia report must not be followed because 34,000 seats reserved for the Civil Procedure have been denotified.
At one point, Judge Kant compared a reservation with a train trip in which people get, but refuse to leave.
“Anyone has been declared as a municipality, on the basis of this, let the elections take place, subject to the outcome. After all, it is an election for action. Assuming that someone has been incorrectly included or excluded may not be inclusions.
Head of lawyer Gopal Sankaranarayan, also for the petitioner, said that the state was used in the state without proper study or compliance with the “triple test” set by the Supreme Court.
The triple test required the state government to establish a reserved commission to collect data on the backwardness of the municipalities in each local authority to determine the share of reservation in each local authority with regard to the Commission’s recommendation and ensured that such reservations do not exceed 50%
The then government of MVA established a commission led by Mr. Banthia, a former main secretary to collect data as required by the court.
After the Commission submitted its report in July 2022, the Government of EKNATH Shinde moved the SC for permission to organize the elections to local authorities by introducing a quota of the Civil Code.
Published – May 6, 2025 03:26 IS IS
