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UP govt sets up 5-member panel on OBC quota in urban body polls

Lucknow : The Uttar Pradesh government has appointed a five-member panel to provide reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBC) in urban local body elections.

This comes a day after the Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court (HC) directed the Uttar Pradesh government and State Election Commission to hold the urban local body elections without reservation for backward classes.

A notification on the panel’s constitution, issued by the Urban Development department, said the commission term would be for a six-month period from the day of taking charge.

The panel would be headed by Justice (retd) Ram Avtar Singh.

Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had on Tuesday said his government would set up a commission to extend reservation benefits to OBCs in urban local body polls in the state.

“Urban local body polls would be held only after extending the quota benefits to OBCs,” he had added.

His comments were in response to the Lucknow bench of Allahabad HC’s order that polls should be held by January 31 without reservation for backward classes.

“A commission would be set up to fix reservation for OBCs in accordance with the triple-test formula,” Yogi said, while asserting that the government could move the Supreme Court if required.

The rights of backward classes were non-negotiable, Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said.

Hindi Website