BENGALURU: Justice Hemant Chandangoudar of the Karnataka High Court on Thursday issued notice to the state government, BBMP and State Election Commission (SEC) on a plea filed against the reservation notification to hold Palike elections.
The petitioner K Mahadeva, a resident of Ejipura ward in the city, challenged the reservation notification dated August 16, 2022, issued by the Urban Development Department (UDD) for 243 wards, and contended that he is aggrieved by the action of the UDD which has demarked General (woman) to Ejipura ward though it was meant for Scheduled Caste. Ejipura ward is demarked in such a way that it holds more than 6,717 Scheduled Caste population in the BTM Layout constituency, he said.
The reservations in this constituency are made in a way that there is only one General category and the rest are reserved for women. He had filed objections to the draft notification which was not considered, he claimed, and prayed that a balance must be ensured between male and female reservations. He contended that total reservation should not exceed one-third of the total seats incorporation. At present, the total seats reserved for ward is 113, and hence, total seats reserved exceeds one-third of total seats in the corporation, he alleged.