This news piece is based on “SC stays order allowing UP body local polls without OBC reservation” which was published in The Hindu on January 05, 2023. 

Why in News?

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court stayed the direction of the Allahabad High Court to the Uttar Pradesh Election Commission provided on December 27 last year to proceed with the urban local body elections without reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs). 

Background of the Case 

The Allahabad High Court had issued a directive last month considering that the state government had not fulfilled the triple test requirement laid down by the top court for such reservation. 

On hearing the appeal filed by the state against the High Court order, a bench of Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha took on record the submission of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that efforts shall be made to ensure that the UP State Local Bodies Dedicated Backward Classes Commission, sets up to complete the necessary exercise to meet the triple test and completes its task within three months. 

The Supreme Court also declared that the High Court direction which mandates the holding of elections to local bodies in Uttar Pradesh without reserving seats for Backward Classes of citizens results in a violation of the constitutional and statutory requirements of reservation for the OBCs. 

Therefore, now the elections shall be conducted only after the requirements provided are adhered to by the assigned commission under the SG. 

Thus, the Supreme Court bench held that if the polls are held without OBC reservation, one segment shall remain unrepresented. 

About the Triple Test Formula 

The triple test requires the state: 

to set up a commission to conduct rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua local bodies, within the state 

to specify the proportion of reservation required to be provisioned in every local body considering recommendations of the commission, so as not to fall foul of overbreadth and 

in any case such reservation shall not exceed an aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved in favor of SCs/STs/OBCs taken together.