Quota anomaly: Madras high court defers Puducherry civic poll process – Times of India

Chennai News

CHENNAI: Citing ‘a serious anomaly’ in reserving seats for scheduled castes and women in Puducherry local body polls, the Madras high court ordered postponement of commencement of filing nomination to October 4.
The filing of nomination was scheduled to commence from September 30.
“Though it is admitted on behalf of the Union territory that this is the first election being conducted on the basis of the 2011 census, it appears that the wards with the higher percentages of SC population have not been reserved, but wards with lesser percentages of SC population have been declared as reserved constituencies,” the first bench of chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu said on Wednesday.
“In view of the grievances that have been aired and there being an apparent anomaly, the date fixed for filing nomination must necessarily be extended before the matter is resolved. Accordingly, the date fixed for filing nomination will now, tentatively, stand extended till October 4,” the bench said.
The issue pertains to a PIL moved by Puducherry MLA J Pregash Kumar against the conduct of local body polls in five municipalities and 10 commune panchayats without reserving seats for SCs and women.
The petitioner submitted that as per the Puducherry Municipalities Act and Rules, reservation of seats for SCs shall be made primarily by taking note of the population of the community.
On August 23, the state election commission notified such reservations for the forthcoming local body election. As per the notification, Ward Nos 22 (Colas Nagar) and 28 (Ozhandal Keerapalayam) have been reserved for SCs/women. Ward Nos 24 (Viduthalai Nagar), and 33 (Kombakkam) have been reserved for SC, the petitioner said. He alleged that the wards reserved for SCs and women are not in consonance with the population ratio as per the census of 2011.
As per the census report, Wards No 23 (Nethaji Nagar) has 29.04% pf SC population which is the highest followed by Ward Nos 17 (Nelithope) 28.41%, Ward No 6 (Thiruvalluvar Nagar) 27.71%, and Ward No 13 (Pudupalayam) 25.26%, the petitioner said. “The commission has committed similar irregularities in the other wards coming under the remaining municipalities too. Aggrieved, the aspiring candidates have made an attempt to ventilate their grievance through public platforms since the commission was reluctant to look into the matter,” he added.

Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/quota-anomaly-madras-high-court-defers-puducherry-civic-poll-process/articleshow/86631937.cms