SC to hear on Wednesday DMK plea alleging quota given in TN local body polls as per 1991 census

The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday a fresh plea of the DMK alleging that the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission had decided to grant quota to women and SC/ST candidates in local bodies elections on the basis of 1991 census instead of 2011 census. A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde on Monday took note of the submissions of senior advocate A M Singhvi, appearing for the DMK, that the state poll panel had decided to grant quota in local body elections based on the old census instead of the latest 2011 census as mandated under the law.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), in its fresh plea, filed through lawyer Amit Anand Tiwari, has challenged the poll panel's November 7 notification on grant of quota to women and SC/ST candidates in the upcoming local body polls. The top court on Friday put on hold the elections for the local bodies in nine new districts, carved out of four existing ones, in Tamil Nadu for complying with legal formalities such as delimitation and reservation in four months.

The order had come on a plea, again moved by DMK which had sought a direction to the state authorities to "carry out delimitation, reservation and rotation process and fulfil all other legal requirements, before issuing any election notifications and conducting elections" for the local bodies in the state. The top court, however, had said the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission could proceed with the elections for all panchayats at village, intermediate and district levels in the remaining 31 revenue districts of the southern state.

The court had taken note of the fact that at the time of completion of the delimitation process, there were only 31 districts in Tamil Nadu but despite a subsequent increase in the number of districts, no fresh delimitation exercise was undertaken. It had said there was no "identified data elucidating population proportions" for providing the requisite reservation to members of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in both village panchayat wards and the district bodies.

The verdict had considered the suggestion put forth by the Tamil Nadu government that it was willing to put on hold the local body polls in the nine districts for complying with legal formalities such as a fresh delimitation exercise and for deciding the issue of reservation for women and SC/ST candidates. It had added that there shall be "no legal impediment" against holding elections for panchayats at the village, intermediate and district levels for the rest of the districts.

While conducting the polls, the authorities "shall provide a proportionate reservation at all levels in accordance with the rules", the court had said. The nine reconstituted districts, where the polls will not be held, are Kancheepuram, Chengalpattu, Vellore, Thirupatthur, Ranipeti, Villupuram, Kallakuruchi, Tirunelveli and Tenkasi.

The state election commission had, on Monday, announced that the local body polls in Tamil Nadu will be held in two phases -- on December 27 and 30 -- without complying with the formalities. The apex court bench had given the state government two options and asked it to either agree to keep the bifurcation of the districts in abeyance or not hold the local body polls for the nine new districts.