Local body polls | Supreme Court seeks response from U.P. govt., State Election Commission

The Supreme Court on Friday, March 3, 2023, sought responses from the Uttar Pradesh government and the State Election Commission on a plea by a group of 14 Mayors to intervene in a case concerning the holding of local body elections in the State.

A three-judge Bench led by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud issued notice and listed the case after three weeks.

The Mayors said they should be allowed to continue until new Municipal Corporations are in place.

The court, on January 4, had stayed an Allahabad High Court direction to the Uttar Pradesh government and the Election Commission to hold local body elections without reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC).

The same order gave the Uttar Pradesh government’s Dedicated Backward Classes Commission time till March 31, 2023 to conduct a “contemporaneous rigorous empirical investigation”, in accordance with the triple test conditions laid down by the Supreme Court, to identify backward classes who need political representation in the State.

The court had also, as an interim measure, adopted the High Court’s direction to the State to form three-member committees headed by District Magistrates in places where the tenures of the elected bodies had expired.

The tenures of incumbent office bearers in several municipalities were set to expire by the end of January.