Himachal Cabinet to review decision to postpone reservation roster for ULB polls
Shimla, Jul 22 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet will review its decision to postpone the reservation roster for the urban local body (ULB) elections in its meeting scheduled to be held on July 24, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Himachal Pradesh Principal Secretary of Urban Development, Devesh Kumar, also informed the State Election Commission (SEC) that only the state Cabinet can revoke or modify its June 28 decision.
'The department shall place the matter in the next Cabinet meeting to be held on July 24. Therefore, it is requested that any further action regarding ULB elections may be postponed till a decision is taken by the Cabinet," Kumar said in the letter to the SEC secretary.
The SEC, on July 10, took strong exception to the Urban Local Body (ULB) Department's letter to all deputy commissioners, seeking the postponement of the election reservation roster for the ULB elections due to the non-availability of updated census data.
The commission, in a letter to the state's chief secretary, asserted that the ULB Department has no authority to alter the schedule issued by the SEC, which is a constitutional body, and asked the government to immediately withdraw the directions.
The elections to all municipal bodies in the state except Shimla Municipal Corporation are scheduled to be held in seven municipal corporations, 29 municipal councils and 37 nagar panchayats. Elections are also to be held in more than 3,600 panchayats.
For the municipal elections, the Election Commission released the schedule for deciding the ward division, delimitation, reservation roster of all the wards two months ago which lapsed on July 11 and to provide complete information of the reserved wards to the Election Commission by July 15.
Principal Urban Development had asked all ten DCs of non Tribal districts in the state asked to postpone the reservation process for ULBs due non-availability and absence of actual updated demographic data of electors of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC) communities and due to delayed national Census, the implementation/finalization of the reservation roster for the ULBs elections shall be postponed until the latest Census data becomes available.
As such, the Census 2011 data remains the relevant and legitimate basis for the reservation of seats in the upcoming ULB elections, as it is the last published census data available, the SEC said and directed that the ULB Department' letter be withdrawn immediately. PTI BPL RHL
view comments
First Published:
July 22, 2025, 20:30 IST
Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Print
14 minutes ago
- The Print
Timely justice to defence personnel, weaker sections of society must to improve their lives: J-K LG
Calling for ensuring timely justice, the LG said delay in delivering justice defeats its purpose. Sinha addressed a two-day north zone regional conference on reaffirming the constitutional vision of justice for defence personnel and tribals at SKICC. Srinagar, Jul 26 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha Saturday said timely justice should be ensured to defence personnel, tribals and weaker sections of the society to improve their lives and to protect their Constitutional rights. 'Jammu and Kashmir and all state legal services authorities should ensure that defence personnel, tribals and weaker sections of the society should get timely justice so that their lives improve and to protect their constitutional rights,' the LG said 'Justice should not be delayed, because delay in justice results in defeat of faith. I hope this important conference would discuss the interventions needed to make the common people aware about their constitutional rights,' he said. Constitution of India guarantees justice — social, economic and political, and one of the facets of providing justice is access to justice to all the citizens and it is to be ensured that justice reaches to the poorest of poor, who deserves it the most, he added. 'The justice system has been deeply rooted in the soul of India and played a pivotal to nation's progress. In our culture, the court is not merely an office of justice but a sacred temple of justice, dedicated to ensuring equal justice and access to the legal system for all, without discrimination,' the LG said. Sinha said his administration has taken three major initiatives in J-K to ensure ease of justice to the members of the armed forces and is committed to provide legal aid to the tribal community. He referred to the establishment of the Lieutenant Governor's Sainik Sahayta Kendra (LGSSK), a dedicated grievance redressal mechanism for personnel of the Indian Armed Forces and Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF). The initiative aims to address civilian grievances of soldiers either posted in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir or hailing from the region but serving elsewhere in India. The LGSSK is designed as a single-window Soldiers' Assistance and Liaison Cell, operating from the Civil Secretariat offices in both Jammu and Srinagar. This institutional platform will streamline the process of receiving, assessing, and resolving grievances, ensuring timely and effective support for serving soldiers. Sinha highlighted key structural reforms taken in the past few years to establish social and economic justice in Jammu Kashmir. Before 2019, he said, various Central laws including two important central legislations namely the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 were not applicable to J-K. Now, these laws have become applicable and tribal community has been empowered. We are extending all constitutional guarantees and protections to the members of the tribal population including access to justice by providing free and competent legal aid to them, Sinha said. He spoke about the major initiatives taken by the J-K administration to ensure ease of justice to the members of the armed forces and reiterated its commitment to provide legal aid to the tribal community. 'Amendment has been made in J&K Legal Services Authority, Rules 2020 to include Secretary, Zila Sainik Board as member of District Legal Services Authority to provide legal aid to soldiers,' he said. On the occasion, NALSA Veer Parivar Sahayata Yojana 2025, a dedicated legal services scheme for defence personnel, ex-servicemen and their families, was launched. The scheme provides for establishing legal services clinics within Rajya and Zila Sainik Boards for rendering legal services and assistance to Veer Parivar. The event also witnessed the launch of various initiatives including Defence Personnel Case Management System; Special Samvad Legal Units for tribal communities; Legal Services support centres at Rajya Sainik Boards of all states and UTs and Zila Sainik Welfare Boards across the Districts of UT of J&K and Ladakh; Unveiling of Logo and Tribal kiosks at Leh airport; Mobile medical camp for tribal population of Ladakh. PTI SSB NB NB This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
The Print
14 minutes ago
- The Print
Two CPI (Maoist) operatives chargesheeted for involvement in Chhattisgarh Assembly poll blast case
With this, 12 accused have been chargesheeted in the case. Ten others were chargesheeted earlier in December 2024 in the case. Dhanesh Ram Dhruw and Ramswrup Markam have been charged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the supplementary chargesheet filed before a court in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, they said. New Delhi, Jul 26 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday chargesheeted two Maoist operatives for their involvement in November 2023 Chhattisgarh Assembly poll blast case, officials said. During the Assembly elections in Chhattisgarh in November 2023, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion killed an ITBP head constable, a statement issued by the NIA said. The blast followed a poll boycott call by proscribed terror outfit CPI (Maoist) in Badegobra village of district Gariyaband. The explosion took place when a polling team accompanied by security personnel was returning from Badegobra village after the completion of the voting process, it said. Dhruv was a headmaster in a government primary school and Markam was sarpanch of Chhotegobra panchayat in Gariyaband district that has a sizeable presence of Naxals, the statement said. Both were allegedly involved in providing logistics and financial support to members of CPI (Maoist) for carrying out the attack, according to the NIA investigation. Dhruv had allegedly actively assisted CPI (Maoist) cadres in making posters and banners for boycotting the assembly elections, among other things, the probe agency said. Markam had allegedly arranged incriminating materials, such as wires, switches, and firecrackers, for the Naxals before carrying out the IED blast, it added. NIA, which took over the probe in February 2024, said that it found the attack to have been planned by CPI (Maoist) Central Committee members Ganesh Uikey and Manoj, and Special Zonal Committee Member Satyam Gawade. It was allegedly carried out by cadres of the outfit's Gobra Dalam with the support of over ground workers (OGWs) from Badegobra-Chhotegobra village, the NIA said. PTI AKV SKY SKY This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
The Print
28 minutes ago
- The Print
CM Saini slams Mamata, says no place for Bangladeshi infiltrators in Haryana
Gurugram Police had earlier said that eight Bangladeshi nationals had been detained as part of an ongoing drive to identify illegal immigrants, who will be deported soon. 'There is no place for Bangladeshi infiltrators in Haryana; they are being taken out from the state (deported) as quickly as possible,' Saini said in a post on X in Hindi. Chandigarh, Jul 26 (PTI) Amid a drive in Gurugram district to identify illegal immigrants, Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Saturday asserted that there is no place for Bangladeshi infiltrators in the state, as he slammed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her 'sympathy towards those who breach the country's security'. Mamata Banerjee on Thursday alleged that poor Bangla-speaking workers from West Bengal were being harassed, detained and even pushed into Bangladesh by authorities in certain BJP-ruled states, dubbing the incidents as acts of 'linguistic terror'. 'West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's sympathy toward those who breach the country's security is not only unfortunate but also against national interests. It is utterly deplorable that a chief minister, driven by appeasement and vote-bank politics, stoops so low as to compromise the country's security,' Saini said in his post. He adde, 'No compromise against India's unity, sovereignty and Constitution is acceptable in Haryana or anywhere in the country. For us, the nation's interest will always be paramount.' In a strongly-worded post on X on Thursday, Banerjee accused the governments in Haryana and Rajasthan of unleashing 'tortures and tortures (sic)' on Bengali-speaking citizens, and questioned what the BJP was trying to prove through such actions. 'Have been increasingly receiving reports of detentions and atrocities on our Bengali-speaking people from different districts of West Bengal in Gurgaon, Haryana. West Bengal police is receiving these reports from Haryana police in the name of requests for identity searches,' she said in her post. On Saturday, while referring to a report by New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW), Banerjee strongly criticised the alleged deportation of Bangla-speaking Muslims from India without due process, calling it a 'shame' for the country. She claimed the HRW report stated that such deportations have been taking place systematically in the BJP-ruled states of Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Delhi, following a directive by the Ministry of Home Affairs, government of India. PTI CHS VSD ARI ARI This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.
