India News | Bihar Govt Files Petition for Review of HC Order on OBC, EBC Quotas in ULB Polls

Patna, Oct 17 (PTI) The Bihar government on Monday filed a petition before the Patna High Court seeking a review of the recent order that declared as "illegal" reservations for Other Backward Classes and Extremely Backward Classes in urban local body (ULB) polls.

The state's Advocate General Lalit Kishor said the petition has been listed for hearing on October 19.

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The court, vide its judgement on October 4, had also ruled that the elections, which were due this month, could be held only after re-notifying the reserved seats as general category.

The State Election Commission, which had drawn flak from the court and reminded that it was "an autonomous and independent body, not bound by the dictates of the state government", put in abeyance the two-phase polls scheduled on October 10 and 20.

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"We have filed a review petition in the urban local bodies' matter. It will be taken up for hearing on Wednesday," Kishor told PTI.

The ruling 'Mahagathbandhan' and the opposition BJP have been sparring over the issue, blaming each other for "deprivation of OBCs and EBCs of their constitutional rights".

Meanwhile, former deputy chief minister Sushil Kumar Modi charged Nitish Kumar, his ex-boss, with adopting tactics to delay the polls.

"Nitish Kumar's government had till yesterday been speaking of challenging the order in Supreme Court. Why this sudden decision to file a review petition in the High Court? What relief is expected from the High Court which has already made its views clear on the issue," asked Modi, a senior BJP leader.

"The chief minister knows that OBCs and EBCs are supporters of the BJP, which he has ditched. Our party would perform splendidly whenever urban local body polls are held. So he would try to delay the polls for as long as he can," alleged the Rajya Sabha MP.

Kumar is unlikely to get any relief from either the high court or the Supreme Court, claimed Modi.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)