Chennai, Oct 5 (BPNS)

The Madras High court directed the State Election Commission of the Puducherry Union Territory to withdraw the local body poll notification and issue a fresh one to hold the elections.

The first bench of the Madras High court comprising of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P.D. Adikesavalu on Tuesday directed the State Election commission to remove the anomalies in providing reservation to Scheduled Castes( SCs) before fresh notifications are issued for conducting the polls.

The bench in its order said, “The Additional Solicitor General (ASG) submits that the State Election Commission (SEC) of Puducherry withdraw the notification dated September 22. Accordingly, the SEC is permitted to withdraw the notification and be permitted to issue a fresh notification calling for the election of municipalities, commune panchayaths and village panchayaths by providing for reservations.”

The court allowed the withdrawal of two notifications regarding the conduct of the polls and provision of reservation of seats in municipalities and commune panchayaths. The Additional Solicitor General, R. Sankaranarayanan in his submission mentioned that the UT administration will provide provisions for reservations.

Local body polls in Puducherry were notified to be conducted on October 21, 25, and 28, in three phases and the provisions for reservation for SCs, BCs, and women were challenged by two petitioners, J Pregash Kumar MLA and N. Periannan.

The petitioners stated that wards no 22,24,28 and 33 in Puducherry municipality were reserved for Scheduled Castes and Women and these wards have a lesser SC population. The complainants argued that wards 6,13,17, 23 with a higher SC population were not reserved.