Supreme Court Approves Local Body Elections With OBC Quota In Uttar Pradesh

The Supreme Court recently approved notifications for setting up the election process for local governments with OBC quotas in the state of Uttar Pradesh within two days.

It enabled the State Election Commission to issue a notification in this regard within two days, with an OBC quota based on the Uttar Pradesh Backward Classes Commission’s findings.

A bench comprised of CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala passed the order in response to the Uttar Pradesh government’s petition challenging the Allahabad High Court’s decision to allow the state to hold urban local body elections without OBC reservations.

The Supreme Court stayed the Allahabad High Court’s order to the Uttar Pradesh State Election Commission to notify the Urban Local Body Polls without OBC reservation on January 4, 2023.

The bench noted that, in light of the Constitution Bench’s decision in Dr K Krishna Murthy v. Union of India (2010) and the three-judge bench’s decision in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali v. State of Maharashtra (2021), the government of Uttar Pradesh issued a notification on December 28, 2022, establishing the Uttar Pradesh State local bodies dedicated backward classes Commission.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta claimed that the commission delivered its report on March 9, 2023, and that the notifications for launching the election process for local bodies in the state of Uttar Pradesh were in the works and will be released within two days. The bench stated, “We permit the State of Uttar Pradesh to do so. The order of the High Court which had directed the State to hold elections for local bodies in Uttar Pradesh without preserving seats for backward classes of citizens is now subsumed in the present order of this court. The observations of the impugned judgement of the High Court shall does not be treated as precedent in future.”

Appearing for the All India Backward Classes Federation, Dr Mohan Gopal contended that the “triple test” established by the Krishna Murthy decision had been extended to the entire country. He claimed that the poor were “watching this keenly all across the country,” and he asked the court to include the Krishna Murthy decision in the 105th Constitutional Amendment.

The triple test was established in the Gawali decision and reaffirmed in the Krishna Murthy decision. To create OBC reservation in local body elections, the triple-test formula was devised. The three tests are as follows:

The three tests are as follows:

1. Establish a dedicated Commission to conduct contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the state’s backwardness qua local bodies;
2. Specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body wise in light of the Commission’s recommendations, so as not to fall foul of over breadth; and
3. In any case, such reservation shall not exceed an aggregate of 50% of the total segregation.

Dr. Gopal contended- “Krishna Murthy’s fundamental premise was that, unlike for SCs and STs, there is no Constitutional provision governing the identification of backward classes. As we all know, the 105th amendment to the Constitution established a specific mechanism by which the states were given the authority to create a list of backward classes by law. This contradicts the triple test, which requires the establishment of a commission… We do not want to group backward classes. We only want one list of backward classes, so Krishna Murthy must be subsumed under 105. It would only be the list established by law.”

The bench, however, stated that it did not wish to discuss the larger issues. “We are not commenting on the High Court order because that is subsumed in our final directions,” said CJI DY Chandrachud.