PUDUCHERRY: There is no legal barrier against the conduct of civic elections in Puducherry as on date from any of the courts in the country, State Election Commissioner (SEC) Roy P Thomas said.
Representatives of almost all political parties have invariably insisted on the conduct of elections at once without any further delay. The views were expressed at the 3rd all party meeting of national, state and registered political parties held in the office of the State Election Commissioner on February 2.
There is no reservation order for Backward Classes (BC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in Puducherry as on date after the notifications providing reservations to BCs and STs were rescinded by the government, said the SEC. The notifications dated 7th March 2019 for municipalities and commune panchayats respectively were rescinded by the Puducherry government with the approval of the Administrator, Puducherry, through an order on October 6, 2021, said the SEC.
The State Election Commission has no power to withdraw the reservation of seats for Backward Classes and Scheduled Tribes, as these are vested only in the Puducherry government and Administrator, he clarified.
Now, it is the duty of the State Election Commission to comply with the directions of the Supreme Court of India in the contempt of court case against the former for the non-conduct of elections in Puducherry for more than 11 years.
Incidentally, this comes at a time when the case filed by the DMK against the withdrawal of BC and ST reservation for the local body polls is pending in the Supreme Court.
In case filed by Maharashtra regarding local body elections, the Supreme Court had ruled that the states which want to provide seats to the backward classes in the local body elections should set up a commission to look into the matter and make reservations in accordance with the Triple Test system prescribed by the Supreme Court. On that basis, the DMK has urged the Puducherry government and the Election Commission to give reservation to backward classes and tribal people and hold local government elections as soon as possible, said DMK MLA R Senthil Kumar.
In the meantime, the Puducherry government had appointed a commission on December 17, 2021 for determining the reservation for backward classes and STs. This panel under retired Justice K K Sasidaran has to collect data and elicit views for providing reservation for BCs and STs and then submit its report within six months.
CPI state secretary A M Saleem has demanded that the AINRC-BJP government expedite the matter for early conduct of local bodies elections with due reservations for BCs and STs. The panel headed by K K Sasidaran should function in a transparent manner and all political parties, social and welfare organisations should be heard, he said.