New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari's plea challenging the Calcutta HC order rejecting his petition against two notifications and issue relating to computation of population for the purpose of reservation of seats for SC/ST and Backward Classes in panchayat polls in West Bengal.
A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala said that they will not interfere with the Calcutta HC order. Senior Advocate PS Patwalia and advocate-on-record Aditya Sharma represented the petitioner in the matter.
Suvendu Adhikari, in his Special Leave Petition, challenged the order dated March 28, 2023, passed by the High Court at Calcutta, and said that despite observing that they found substance in the argument of the counsel for the petitioner, HC declined to interfere.
Further, HC and left it open to the respondent Election Commission to consider the effect of the anomaly noted above in arriving at the proportion of SC/ST/BC population on the basis of the population of SC/ST arrived at by adding decadal growth of 7.5 per cent in census figure of 2011 and calculation of the population of Backward Classes on the basis of a household survey in August 2022.
Suvendu Adhikari in his plea alleged that the State Election Commission in cahoots with the State administration had favoured the present-day ruling dispensation in the forthcoming Gram Panchayat Elections by manipulating the data based on which various gram Panchayats are categorized as reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other Backward Classes. (with ANI inouts)
