Ranchi. The Jharkhand High Court has expressed deep displeasure over the election of municipal bodies in the state. The court termed it as a case of contempt and said that the state government cannot stop elections in the name of triple test process for OBC reservation in municipal bodies. The court has also issued a notice to the Election Commission of India in this case. The next hearing of the case has been fixed on 16 January.
The Jharkhand High Court, while hearing the petition of the outgoing councilor Roshni Khalkho and others of the Ranchi Municipal Corporation in this regard, ordered to declare the date of election of the municipal body on January 4, 2024, about a year ago within three weeks. The High Court had said that it is constitutional and spatial breakdown to hang the elections even after the term of the municipal bodies ended. Roshni Khalkho has filed a contempt petition for not complying with this decision of the court. It was heard on Monday in Justice Anand Sen’s bench.
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It was told by the state government that the process of triple test is going on to fix the reservation percentage of backward classes in the municipal bodies. Elections will be held after its completion. On this, the court expressed displeasure that it is wrong to stop the election under the guise of the triple test. During the hearing, the State Election Commission advocate said that the Election Commission of India has not yet provided the new voter list despite the request. The state government is also not cooperating with it.
On this, the court directed the Election Commission of India to issue a notice. It is noteworthy that the term of all the municipal bodies in Jharkhand has ended in April 2023 itself. Elections for the new term should have been held by April 27, 2023, but this has not happened. The reason behind this is that the state government has decided to conduct a triple test in the state to decide the percentage of OBC reservation before holding a new election of municipal bodies and its process has not been completed yet.