Election Law – Reservation of Seats – Municipal Council Chairperson – Eligibility Criteria – Maintainability of Writ Petition – Writ petition challenging the election of respondent No. 5 as the Chairperson of the Municipal Council, Dehra, District Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. The petitioner contended that although the seat was reserved for Women (General) Category, respondent No. 5, belonging to the Scheduled Castes category, had been elected, thereby seeking the quashing of the election and fresh elections from the category of Women (General).The appellant relied on provisions of the Himachal Pradesh Municipal (Delimitation and Reservation of Wards) Rules, 2015, particularly Rules 10 and 12, which mandated the reservation of Chairperson offices for Women belonging to the “general category”. It was argued that only those from the General Category could be appointed or elected as Chairperson.
The Hon’ble High Court, after analyzing relevant legal precedents including Saraswati Devi vs. Shanti Devi and others, Kasambhai F. Ghanchi vs. Chandubhai D. Rajpur and others, and Bihari Lal Rada vs. Anil Jain (Tinu) and others, concluded that the election of the Chairperson from an unreserved seat, even if belonging to a reserved category, was permissible. The Court emphasized that the idea of reservation was to promote the participation of weaker sections of society, and candidates from reserved categories could contest elections from unreserved seats.
Further, the Court clarified that there is no separate category termed “general category,” and seats or offices earmarked for persons from all categories, irrespective of caste, class, or community, are considered as general category seats.
In light of these principles, the Court held that the election of respondent No. 5 as Chairperson was valid, and the writ petition was rightly dismissed. Additionally, the Court affirmed the Writ Court’s ruling on maintainability, stating that if the petitioner intended to challenge the election, the appropriate remedy would be to file an election petition under the H.P. Municipal Act, 1994.Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed, finding no merit in the contentions raised by the appellant. (Para10, 18, 24)
HIGH COURT OF HIMACHAL PRADESH
2024 STPL(Web) 115 HP
[-]
Sunita Sharma Vs. State Of H. P. & Ors.
LPA No. 70 of 2023-Decided on 21-03-2024
https://stpllaw.in/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024-STPLWeb-115-HP.pdf
