Uttarakhand HC seeks EC response on Rudraprayag seat reservation

Dehradun: Uttarakhand high court, while hearing a PIL alleging failure to reserve the Rudraprayag assembly seat since the state’s formation on Saturday, directed the State Election Commission to clarify its position within three days.According to the petition, Vijay Lal, a social activist and retired Army personnel from Rudraprayag district, moved the court noting that the state was nearing its 26th anniversary and assembly elections were due next year. He contended that since Uttarakhand’s inception, the Rudraprayag assembly constituency has remained unreserved and consistently classified as a general seat, despite a substantial population of Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Castes and Other Backward Classes in the area.The petitioner also said that he had submitted multiple representations to the commission and the state govt seeking reservation of the seat. In response, the commission had asked the district magistrate to take a decision, but no action was taken. He urged the court to direct that his constituency be declared a reserved seat for the upcoming assembly elections, arguing that “continued non-reservation amounted to injustice for the local population”.A division bench of Justice Ravindra Maithani and Justice Siddharth Sah, taking note of the submissions, directed the commission to apprise it of the current status within three days.