Lucknow: In a major setback to the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, the Allahabad High Court has granted an interim stay on the seat reservation proceedings of the state government. The order may further delay holding the three-tier Panchayat polls next month.
The two member bench comprising Justice Rituraj Awasthi and Justice Manish Mathur passed the interim stay order on a PIL filed by one Ajay Kumar. The two-member bench has issued notices to the State Election Commission and the State government to file their replies by the next date on March 15.
The Petitioner had challenged the February 11 government order of the state government which had fixed 1995 as the base year for rotating the reserved seats.
Petitioner said that it was in violation of an earlier order dated September 15 which had fixed 2015 as the base year for rotation of reserved seats. The last polls were held as per the September 2015 government order, the petitioner pleaded.
Accepting the arguments of the petitioner, the two-member bench granted an interim stay.
After the High Court’s verdict, the state government has issued orders to Panchayati Raj department and all district magistrates to stop the rotation of reserved seats till further orders.
The HC verdict may further delay the Panchayat polls in the state. Significantly, in its earlier verdict, the High Court had rapped the state government for inordinate delay in holding polls and directed it to complete the rotation of reserved seats by March 17 and finish the election process by April 30.
