May move SC, says Yogi on HC’s civic poll order. Akhilesh cries ‘injustice’

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday said the state government will set up a commission to decide on the issue of OBC reservation in the urban local body elections.

The chief minister’s statement comes after the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court rejected the state government’s draft notification on the civic polls and ordered holding the elections without reservation for the OBCs. Adityanath said if required, the government may also approach the Supreme Court against the high court order. The development means that the already delayed civic polls will be deferred further.

“The government will take a final decision on urban local body polls after consulting legal experts on all aspects of the court order, deputy chief minister Keshav Prasad Maurya tweeted, while adding that under no circumstances will the state government compromise on the issue of OBC rights.

A slew of petitions had challenged the notification, pleading that the UP government follow the top court formula and set up a dedicated panel to study the political backwardness of OBCs before fixing the quota. As per the December 5 draft, four mayoral seats of Aligarh, Mathura-Vrindavan, Meerut and Prayagraj were reserved for OBC candidates. Of these, the mayor’s posts in Aligarh and Mathura-Vrindavan were reserved for OBC women.

Additionally, 54 chairpersons’ seats in the 200 municipal councils were reserved for OBCs, including 18 for OBC women. For the chairpersons’ seats in 545 nagar panchayats, 147 seats were reserved for OBC candidates, including 49 for OBC women.

Apna Dal (S), a OBC party sharing power in UP and Centre in alliance with BJP too made it clear that in their view holding civic polls sans OBC reservation wasn’t justified. “We will study the HC order in detail before taking a final decision but if required, we will even approach the Supreme Court on the issue,” the party tweeted its stand from its verified handle.

Following the high court order, the opposition parties including Samajwadi Party have now cornered the ruling government alleging that it conspired to end OBC quota. “We wont tolerate this injustice,” said SP chief Akhilesh Yadav.