High Court admits petition challenging changes in seat reservation nomenclature for municipal polls

Vishnu Neopaney

The High Court of Sikkim on 06 October, Tuesday, admitted a writ petition challenging the government notifications published on 01 September and 09 September 2015 in connection with the municipal elections. These notifications were related to the reservation pattern for wards in the municipal bodies and did away with the community specific Bhutia-Lepcha and Limboo-Tamang seat reservation seen in the last municipal polls and clubbed them together as Scheduled Tribe seats for the upcoming municipal elections.
Hearing the petition filed by Phigu Tshering Bhutia, the single bench of Chief Justice SK Sinha, while admitting the petition, issued notices to the State government, Sikkim State Election Commission and Urban Development & Housing Department directing that they file their replies within eight weeks.
The High Court refused to grant a stay order on the elections scheduled for 09 October.
Phigu Tshering Bhutia, the petitioner, has challenged the municipal elections arguing that the BL seats reserved in the last elections be restored. In support of his plea, the petitioner has invoked the Tripartite Agreement of 1973, Article 371F of the Constitution of India and the Supreme Court case on the BL and Sangha seats.