Express News Service
PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar came under sharp attack of the Opposition once again after the Patna High Court on Tuesday ordered that the reservation of seats for Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes in urban local body elections was “illegal”.
A division bench comprising chief justice Sanjay Karol and justice S Kumar directed the state election commission to hold the polls ‘only by immediately re-notifying the seats reserved for OBCs, treating them as general category seats.’
The order came barely a week before the local bodies elections are scheduled on October 10. The candidates have started campaigning in their respective areas with election symbols allotted to them by the commission. Around 1.14 crore electors were expected to exercise their franchise in two phases on October 10 and 20, respectively.
Former deputy CM and BJP Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi blamed Nitish Kumar for the mess. “Had the state government constituted a dedicated commission in the wake of the SC’s order, such a situation would not have arisen ahead of the urban bodies elections,” he added.
He also took a dig at some JD (U) leaders for their attempt to divert the attention of the people on the issue. “Caste-based count and ensuring reservation for OBCs and EBCs in the local bodies elections are two separate things,” he clarified.
The JD(U), on the other hand, claimed that the delay in conducting caste count in the state was among the factors that led to the court’s order. JD(U) parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha tweeted, “It is unfortunate.”
Kushwaha, who is considered close to Nitish, said that the HC’s order was a part of a conspiracy of Centre and the BJP. “This situation wouldn’t have arisen, had the union government conceded the demand of caste census and fulfilled constitutional provisions,” the JD(U) leader said. He also threatened to launch agitation to expose the conspiracy of the union government and the BJP.
PATNA: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar came under sharp attack of the Opposition once again after the Patna High Court on Tuesday ordered that the reservation of seats for Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes in urban local body elections was “illegal”.
A division bench comprising chief justice Sanjay Karol and justice S Kumar directed the state election commission to hold the polls ‘only by immediately re-notifying the seats reserved for OBCs, treating them as general category seats.’
The order came barely a week before the local bodies elections are scheduled on October 10. The candidates have started campaigning in their respective areas with election symbols allotted to them by the commission. Around 1.14 crore electors were expected to exercise their franchise in two phases on October 10 and 20, respectively.
Former deputy CM and BJP Rajya Sabha member Sushil Kumar Modi blamed Nitish Kumar for the mess. “Had the state government constituted a dedicated commission in the wake of the SC’s order, such a situation would not have arisen ahead of the urban bodies elections,” he added.
He also took a dig at some JD (U) leaders for their attempt to divert the attention of the people on the issue. “Caste-based count and ensuring reservation for OBCs and EBCs in the local bodies elections are two separate things,” he clarified.
The JD(U), on the other hand, claimed that the delay in conducting caste count in the state was among the factors that led to the court’s order. JD(U) parliamentary board chairman Upendra Kushwaha tweeted, “It is unfortunate.”
Kushwaha, who is considered close to Nitish, said that the HC’s order was a part of a conspiracy of Centre and the BJP. “This situation wouldn’t have arisen, had the union government conceded the demand of caste census and fulfilled constitutional provisions,” the JD(U) leader said. He also threatened to launch agitation to expose the conspiracy of the union government and the BJP.
