Ranchi, Jan 27 (PTI) The Jharkhand High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition that challenged the government’s reservation policy for the appointment of mayor in the civic elections, paving the way for municipal polls in the state.
A division bench of Chief Justice MS Sonak and Justice Rajesh Shankar, while hearing the petition filed by one Shantanu Kumar Chandra, observed that there is no merit in the same.
The petitioner has challenged the reservation policy of the government for appointment to the post of mayor in Dhanbad and Giridih.
The petitioner submitted that the government has made a faulty reservation policy for appointment to the posts in the two urban local bodies.
The reservation for the post of mayor has been done on the basis of the population census of 2011, which is very old, he mentioned.
The post of mayor in Giridih has been reserved for a candidate belonging to the scheduled caste community, and the same for Dhanbad has been earmarked for the unreserved category.
The Election Commission has divided the nine civic bodies in the state into two categories.
Ranchi and Dhanbad have been kept in one category, while Adityapur, Hazaribag, Deoghar, Giridih, Medininagar, Chas and Phusro have been clubbed in another.
The civic polls to 48 urban local bodies in the state, including Ranchi, will be held on February 23.
The counting of votes will take place on February 27.
The nomination process will start on January 29 and will continue till February 4.
The nominations will be scrutinised on February 5, while candidates can withdraw their names till February 6. The symbols will be allotted the next day.
Over 43.33 lakh voters, including 21.26 lakh women, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the elections to 1,087 wards in nine municipal corporations, 20 nagar parishads and 19 nagar panchayats. PTI CORR NAM BDC
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