Nitish Kumar in eye of Bihar political storm over local body polls deferment post HC order

The high court said that the current reservation of seats for OBCs and EBCs was “illegal” since the Bihar government failed to set up a dedicated commission to quantify backwardness for giving reservation in local body polls.

The first phase of local body polls was scheduled for October 10.

Nitish, who is known for his deft social engineering, seems to have floundered this time by disregarding the apex court’s order which had led to the cancellation of local body polls in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra last year.

While hearing a case pertaining to Maharashtra local body polls last year, the Supreme Court had come up with a “triple test” mandate that requires setting up a dedicated commission to collect quantifiable data to determine backwardness of OBCs in local bodies; specifying the proportion of reservation required in light of the recommendation of the commission; and imposing a reservation ceiling of 50 per cent.

Sources told The Indian Express that the law department of the Bihar government had asked the state election commission to proceed with the polls despite being aware of the Supreme Court order.

BJP Rajya Sabha MP and former Bihar deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi told The Indian Express: “I had followed up the matter with top bureaucrats of the state government, but they still sought a favourable legal opinion despite a 2010 order of the Supreme Court clearly saying that political reservation is different from reservation in education and jobs.”

“We are surprised and dismayed at the Bihar government for not adhering to the triple test mandated by the Supreme Court ,” he added.

Modi alleged that crores of rupees spent by the candidates for local body elections would go waste because of the chief minister’s defiance of the court’s order.

“No bureaucrat dared to give him the right advice. Despite the state election commission writing to the state government citing the two orders of the Supreme Court delivered in 2021, the Bihar government decided to go ahead with local body polls which were bound to be cancelled,” Modi said.

The high court order passed by Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice S Kumar directed the Bihar government to hold the elections “only by immediately re-notifying the seats reserved for OBC category, treating them as general category seats.” The court said: “The state of Bihar may consider enacting a comprehensive legislation pertaining to reservations in elections to local bodies…. ”

Sources in the government said that Nitish insisted on following the recommendations laid down by previous OBC and EBC commissions, and said that the “triple test” mandate was not required to be followed since the guidelines laid down by the erstwhile commissions were already being observed.

But the Patna High Court rejected the state government’s argument and said, “No point of reference to the Backward Class Commission or Extremely Backward Class Commission for ascertaining political backwardness is placed on record.”

The court also observed that the “procedure and pattern adopted by the Government/ Election Commission in reserving the seats for the OBC category in all the municipalities, be it municipal corporation, municipality or Nagar Parishad, is identical… reservation across the board is provided without evaluating any parameters, except population….”

It also reprimanded the state election commission for kowtowing to the Bihar government.

“The Election Commission is definitely not subservient to the government. It did not revise its opinion. It did not seek any legal opinion before acting on the government’s diktats,” the order said, adding that the Election Commission “shall review its functioning as an autonomous and independent body.”

Nitish’s JD (U) has been finding it difficult to defend the chief minister for not adhering to the SC order.

While several senior JD (U) leaders refused to speak on the matter, the party’s parliamentary board chief Upendra Kushwaha called the verdict “unfortunate”.

Blaming the central government, Kushwaha said: “Had there been an all-India caste census, we could have given all relevant data desired by the court.”

Modi, however, countered Kushwaha by saying that the court had enquired about data relevant for local government and the caste census had nothing to do with local body polls.

Referring to the Supreme Court’s ‘triple test’ order on Maharashtra local body elections, JD (U) national president Rajiv Ranjan Singh told reporters: “Since we have been giving reservation in local bodies since 2007, what happens in Maharashtra now?”

Singh accused the BJP of being “anti-reservation”.

RJD national spokesperson Subodh Kumar attacked the BJP for its “failure” to set up a dedicated commission as per the court’s order. “What was the BJP doing? It had been previously very much part of the government with Nitish Kumar,” he said.