SC clears decks for ULB polls

New Delhi, Feb 1, 2013,

The Supreme Court on Friday cleared the decks for holding urban local bodies elections in Karnataka on the basis of the 2001 census.

A bench of justices H L Gokhale and Madan B Lokur made strong observations against the State government over its failure to provide the fresh list of reserved seats to the State Election Commission (SEC), saying that it did not want the will of the people reflected in the local bodies polls before the Assembly elections.

The court gave two days to the State government to furnish the list of reserved seats and in case it failed, the SEC could proceed on the present reservation of seats.

The position which emerges is, whereas the State Election Commission is keen to hold elections as required under the Constitution and the law, the State government is not inclined to hold it. The grounds given is revision of census figure and required rotation of seats in reserved category, the bench noted.

In view of the situation, the SEC is within its rights and powers to proceed with the elections as required under the Constitution and law on the basis of existing rolls. As far as reservation list is concerned, the State government is to furnish the list by February 3. In the event of its failure, the SEC can proceed with present reservation of seats, the bench said.

The court dismissed the special leave petitions filed by Raju Chavan, a Bijapur resident, and the State government, challenging the Karnataka High Court order passed in December last, refusing to issue any direction to the SEC to conduct polls as per provisional 2011 census.

Senior advocate P P Rao, appearing for the Karnataka government, urged the court to give at least three months to provide the list containing the required rotation of seats in reserved category, but the court remained unmoved.

He also suggested that as the term for the Assembly was getting over sometime in May, there would not be any difficulty to provide the list by then and both the polls could be held simultaneously.

As far as census figure is concerned, it is not in hand. As far as reservation list is concerned, the High Court has given them (State government) two occasions and informed the SEC about the manner in which it is to be done. On December 20, the High Court finally gave two days time, but they did not take any step, making the SEC to move the HC with a contempt petition, the court observed.

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SC clears decks for ULB polls