 "Vote, elections, MCD polls")
Allowing the SEC to file an affidavit stating its position on Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari's PIL, which alleged faulty process to determine OBC percentage, the Calcutta High Court said it expects the poll panel not to notify panchayat polls in West Bengal till January 9.
Noting that the current population figures of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and the total population of the state should also be arrived at based on household surveys as is being done in the case of Other Backward Classes (OBCs), the petitioner claimed that two different yardsticks cannot be applied as that will lead to arbitrary results.
A division bench presided by Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava on Wednesday granted two weeks' time to the State Election Commission (SEC) to file an affidavit in opposition and thereafter affidavit in reply by the petitioner be filed within another one week.
The bench, also comprising Justice R Bharadwaj, said that it will also be open to the state to file an affidavit in opposition to Adhikari's contention within the same period.
"We expect that the State Election Commission will not notify the panchayat elections till the next date of hearing," the court directed, fixing January 9 for listing of the PIL.
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Questioning two notifications of July and August, Adhikari submitted that a faulty procedure has been adopted for determining the percentage of OBCs for reservation of seats in the West Bengal panchayat elections.
Adhikari's counsel submitted that as per the notification and guidelines, household surveys are being conducted for determining the OBC population only.
He submitted that for computing the figure of other population (SCs, STs and total population) 7.5 per cent estimated decadal growth rate is applied to the figure obtained from the 2011 Census.
Maintaining that the current population figures of SCs, STs and total population should also be arrived at based on household surveys, Adhikari's counsel submitted that two different yardsticks cannot be applied as it will lead to arbitrary results.
He claimed that such calculation of population percentage will have an effect on the elections.
The SEC counsel submitted that since 2011 Census figures for Other Backward Classes are not available, household surveys are being conducted to ascertain their population.
He also sought two weeks' time to file affidavit in opposition.
Advocate General, appearing for the state, submitted that after 2011, two elections in 2014 and 2019 have already been held by following the same procedure.
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