Lucknow, March 30 (IANS) Two days after the Supreme Court cleared the way for holding Urban local bodies' polls in Uttar Pradesh, the state cabinet has recommended promulgation of an ordinance to amend the rules of nagar nigams and nagar palikas (civic bodies) in light of the Uttar Pradesh Backward Classes Commission's recommendations for other backward classes (OBC) reservation in the urban local bodies' polls.

"The OBC commission, in its report submitted on March 9, has made certain recommendations that would require us to effect certain changes and on the basis of which the Election process would move ahead. For that purpose, the cabinet has recommended promulgation of ordinance to bring about changes in the urban local bodies act," Urban Development Minister A.K. Sharma said.

The Minister said the draft ordinance would now be sent to Raj Bhavan for mandatory clearance by Governor Anandiben Patel.

He also said the government was hopeful of speedy promulgation of the ordinance on the basis of which the new backward reservation criteria for the civic polls would be rolled out.

The Minister said a notification for the local body elections was issued on December 5, 2022 and several petitions were filed in court against the move.

A five-member commission was formed on December 28, a day after the Allahabad high court order to hold the urban body polls without OBC quota.

The commission had submitted the report to chief minister Yogi Adityanath on March 9 and it was accepted by the cabinet on March 10.

On January 4, the apex court had stayed the Allahabad high court direction to the state election commission to hold civic polls without OBC quota.

In December last year, the state government issued a provisional list of reserved seats for the mayors of 17 municipal corporations, chairpersons of 200 municipal councils, and 545 nagar panchayats for the three-tier urban elections, and had sought suggestions and objections to the draft within seven days.

The ruling BJP and the state's main opposition Samajwadi Party, who had been accusing each other of delaying polls, said they were ready for the elections.

State BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said: "The government is determined to protect the rights of each community and conduct urban local bodies' elections by lawfully making reservations."

Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya said that "the BJP is fully prepared for the ULB elections".

Rajpal Kashyap, the chief of Samajwadi Party's OBC Cell, said, "We are fully prepared for elections and the SP will continue to fight for the rights of the OBCs."

--IANS

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