In a surprise development that is likely to impact the ongoing election to the panchayat bodies in Madhya Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Friday stayed the process to the extent of the seats reserved for other backward classes (OBCs).
The apex court has asked the MP State Election Commission to re-notify these 27 per cent seats, reserved for OBCs, as general category seats. The bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and C.T. Ravikumar referred to its recent judgment that stayed similar OBC reservation in panchayat polls in Maharashtra, while coming out with this order.
The order, however, came as a surprise because it was pronounced during the hearing of a petition where no objection had been taken on the OBC reservation issue.
“The Supreme Court took up the issue suo motu during the hearing and directed stay on OBC reservation and re-notification of the seats,” senior SC advocate and Rajya Sabha member Vivek Tankha told THE WEEK.
This SC order is likely to put the entire panchayat election process in the state at stake because the directed re-notification is likely to change the seat algorithm and the process may have to be totally redone.
Poll process is on for elections of 859 district panchayat members, 6,727 janpad panchayat members, 22,581 sarpanchs and 3,62,754 panchs in the state. The last date for filing of nomination for phase 1 and 2 of the polls is December 20. The polls are to be held in three phases on January 6, 28 and February 16.
Tankha admitted that the SC order may result in the current process being stopped for the re-notification as directed. He also said that the state government might not be willing to go ahead with the polls without the OBC reservation at this point of time.
MP Election Commission Secretary B.S. Jamod told THE WEEK that any further step can be taken only after the detailed order of the SC is studied. “The matter of reservation of seats anyway rests with the state government, we are only responsible for conduction of the elections,” he said.
When the SC order on OBC reservation came, Tankha was appearing before the bench for petitioners in a special leave petition challenging the November 21 notification of the MP government that annulled the rotation determination (within designated reserved categories like women, SC/ST) of panchayat seats done in 2019-2020 and restored the position as in 2014.
In this matter, the SC said that since the matter was being heard before the MP High Court, the election process could go ahead while the hearing was on, but the declaration of the result will be subject to disposal of the petition (by HC).
The SC bench also made some adverse comments on the apparent failure of the MP government and state election commission to adhere to the SC judgment on OBC reservation. “Don't play with fire and you should understand the situation. Don't make decisions based on political compulsions. There is only one Constitution of India and you will abide by that and there is only one Supreme Court. This is irresponsible behavior by the Election Commission,” the court said.
It added that the court did not want any experiments to be done in Madhya Pradesh and the case should be 'brought in sync with Maharashtra'.
Legal challenges
The panchayat poll process in MP, notified on December 4 by MP Election Commission, has been caught in a legal tangle, with multiple petitions filed to challenge the alleged discrepancies in delimitation and seat rotation process. After Gwalior and the principal bench (Jabalpur) of MP High Court refused to stay the process, petitioners went to the Supreme Court. However, on December 15, the SC asked the petitioners to go back to the MP High Court in the matter. But the MPHC refused to conduct an urgent hearing and listed the matter after the winter vacation, on January 3. The petitioners then went back to the Supreme Court on Friday demanding immediate relief.