BENGALURU: The High Court on Tuesday directed the State Government to complete the exercise of delimitation and providing reservation to Other Backward Classes in 12 weeks for holding taluk and zilla panchayat polls. Within a week after that, the State Election Commission has to notify the poll process, the court ordered, clarifying that the government should complete the exercise in 12 weeks.
The court passed the order after hearing the petition by SEC in 2021, questioning the legality of the new law enacted to take away the powers of the commission to carry out the exercise of delimitation, fixing of seats and reservation of seats for TPs and ZPs.
In view of the recent directives of the Supreme Court on conducting elections to the local bodies, the SEC filed a memo to advance the hearing. Accordingly, the matter was heard and order was passed. Senior Counsel KN Phanindra, representing SEC, drew the attention of the court on the directives issued by the SC recently to complete the election process and also the constitutional mandate on the commission in holding the elections.
Advocate General Prabhuling K Navadagi submitted that a commission has been constituted in compliance with the directions issued by the top court to recommend reservations for OBC in rural local bodies and hence 12 weeks time was required to complete the exercise of delimitation and providing reservation.
The petition was filed in December 2021, questioning the Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Act, 2021 which came into force from September 18, 2021, when SEC had almost completed preparations to conduct elections to TPs and ZPs across the state. The SEC had notified delimitation of constituencies on March 2021, determination of reservation of seats on April 30, 2021 and published the final voters list in June 2021.
Contending that the new law derailed the process already done and could not conduct the elections to TPs and ZPs, the SEC moved the Karnataka High Court questioning the new law in December 2021.