Madras high court warns of stalling Puducherry civic polls citing anomalies in reserving seats – Times of India

CHENNAI: The Madras high court on Thursday censured the Puducherry state commission for anomalies in reserving seats for SCs, BCs and women in forthcoming civic polls. The court warned of stalling the election if the commission fails to respond satisfactorily by Friday.
“There are several anomalies, including the very basis of reserving seats for backward classes. No answers are forthcoming to the several anomalies which have been noticed,” the first bench of Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu said.
The court then adjourned the pleas moved by Puducherry MLS J Pregash Kumar and N Periannan to 12.30 pm on October 1 for the commission to respond.
According to the petitioners, 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, ward no 23 (Nethaji Nagar) has 29.04% of SC population which is the highest followed by ward no 17 (Nelithope) 28.41%, ward no 6 (Thiruvalluvar Nagar) 27.71%, and ward no 13 (Pudupalayam) 25.26%, the petitioner said.
Similar anomalies were also pointed out in reserving seats for backward communities also.