HC orders UP local body poll without OBC quota

New Delhi, December 27

The Allahabad High Court on Tuesday quashed the Uttar Pradesh Government’s December 5 draft notification on urban local body elections and ordered holding the polls without reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

The order came from the Division Bench of Justice DK Upadhyay and Justice Saurav Lavania of the Allahabad High Court on PILs challenging the preparation of the OBC reservation draft without following the triple test formula prescribed by the Supreme Court.

The Bench had earlier stayed the urban local body elections in Uttar Pradesh for a fortnight.

The petitioners contended that the state government must follow the top court’s formula and constitute a dedicated commission to study the political backwardness of OBCs before fixing the reservation. Maintaining that it had conducted a rapid survey, the state government submitted it was as good as the triple test formula.