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Karnataka High Court to hear petitions challenging BBMP ward reservation on September 28

The counsels for the petitioners argued that ‘rotation in reservation’ has not been adhered to in many wards
Last Updated 27 September 2022, 19:47 IST

The Karnataka High Court has adjourned to Wednesday the hearing on a batch of petitions challenging the August 16, 2022 notification pertaining to ward-wise reservation of constituencies of the BBMP.

During the hearing, the counsels for the petitioners argued that ‘rotation in reservation’ has not been adhered to in many wards. It was contended that most of the wards coming under Assembly constituencies represented by Opposition party MLAs have been reserved for women. Similarly, most of the wards in the Assembly constituencies represented by ruling party MLAs have been reserved for general candidates.

Insofar as reservation to the OBC category, the petitioners argued that the dedicated commission, under retired High Court Judge Justice Bhaktavatsala, has ignored the criteria for identifying political backwardness and has based the findings on criteria adopted in providing reservation in the educational field.

The bench presided over by Justice Hemant Chandanagoudar posed a query as to whether it is possible for the state government to redo the reservation notification by applying the required norms within the period.

The counsel for the State Election Commission (SEC) said that any effort of redoing the reservation exercise, especially with the OBC category, will take at least one year as nationwide data has to be assessed to determine political backwardness.

Meanwhile, the state government has submitted that the reservation in respect of Backwards Class-A and B category and women have been determined by the randomisation method.

In the statement of objections, the state government said that the reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes has been prepared in a descending order of their ward-wise population.

The state also said that the dedicated commission has also suggested reclassification of BC-A and BC-B into two more categories of backward classes for the purpose of effective reservation in favour of OBCs, including the minorities, before the next local body elections in 2027 or 2028.

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(Published 27 September 2022, 19:22 IST)

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