Chennai: The Madras High Court has directed the Puducherry government and the State Election Commission (SEC) to keep in abeyance, all further proceedings related to the local body polls, proposed to be held in the Union Territory without reserving wards for Backward Classes (BCs) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates.
On an urgent Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by Leader of the Opposition in the Puducherry Legislative Assembly R Siva seeking to quash a Government Order (GO) rescinding the previous notifications, Justices R. Mahadevan and Abdul Quddhose, at a special sitting in view of the dussehra holidays, passed the interim orders and directed the SEC to file their counters by 21 October.
In his PIL, Siva challenged the October six GO rescinding the previous notifications which provided 33.5 per cent reservation for BCs and 0.5 per cent for STs in the local body polls.
Terming the withdrawal of reservation as unconstitutional, and in violation of statutes governing the conduct of local body elections in Puducherry, he said the Irular tribe, including Villi and Vettaikaran, in the Union Territory were recognised as a Scheduled Tribe and they were entitled to reservation of wards.