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Civic poll: Political parties gear up as Prayagraj mayoral seat unreserved
Political parties in Uttar Pradesh are preparing for the upcoming urban local bodies' elections, following the state government's draft notification for reservation. The mayoral post in Prayagraj, as well as those in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Aligarh, Bareilly, Moradabad, Ayodhya, and Mathura-Vrindavan, will be unreserved. The Bharatiya Janata Party, Samajwadi Party, Congress, and Bahujan Samaj Party have all begun preparing for the elections. The mayoral post in Prayagraj has been declared unreserved for the fourth time in five elections, following the Supreme Court's approval of a fresh census of Other Backward Classes.
A day after the state government issued the draft notification for reservation in the urban local bodies’ elections, political parties here have begun framing their strategies and considering suitable candidates as mayoral post in Sangam city has yet again been kept unreserved i.e. not reserved for any reserved category be it Other Backward classes (OBC), Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST).
Besides Prayagraj, the mayoral seats in Varanasi, Gorakhpur, Aligarh, Bareilly, Moradabad, Ayodhya and Mathura-Vrindavan will also be unreserved. In the earlier notification issued on December 5, 2022, the mayoral post of Prayagraj was reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBC). However, in the notification issued on Thursday, the state urban development department, while changing its 2022 notification, retained the unreserved status of mayoral seat here, confirmed officials.
“The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has begun preparing for the election with full enthusiasm. Panna Pramukhs have started working and booth and ward-wise teams have been formed. Senior party leaders would soon announce the candidate for the post of mayor. We are just waiting for the formal announcement of the election date,” said BJP’s city unit chief Ganesh Kesarwani.
Samajwadi Party Prayagraj city unit president Syed Iftikar Hussain said: “We are upbeat about the polls and party workers are geared up. A meeting of senior party leaders is being convened and we would soon declare our candidates.”
The Congress too has begun preparing for the civic elections. “Our ward visits will start next week and candidates will also be announced soon. Senior leaders like Chaudhary Jitendra Nath Singh and Vijay Mishra are among those vying to contest for the mayoral post,” said party’s Prayagraj city unit president Pradeep Mishra Anshuman.
“The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has already made preparations right from the booth level and we will be contesting the polls with committees of youth and women leading our efforts,” said BSP district president TN Jaisal.In the 2017 elections, the Sangam city mayor’s seat here was unreserved. In the notification issued on December 5, 2022, the seat was reserved for OBC and there was a lot of opposition to the move.
Those opposing the move had pointed out the low count of OBC in wards. As per them, before issuing reservation for 100 wards in the mayor and municipal corporation area, the caste enumeration had revealed OBCs to be 19.48% of the total population in the 100 wards. They claimed that the mayor’s seat has to be unreserved if the population of other backward castes was less than 21%.
Before disposal of objections, the matter of reservation of OBCs had gone to the Allahabad high court’s Lucknow bench. After listening to all the parties, the high court had ordered the state government to conduct a fresh census of Other Backward Classes. After the enumeration, the state government presented the backward caste enumeration report in the Supreme Court. After getting the green signal from the Supreme Court, the urban development department retained the Prayagraj mayoral seat’s unreserved status.
It is the fourth time that seat has been declared unreserved. For the first time in 1995, after the implementation of the 74th amendment to the Constitution in the state, the election of mayor (then called Nagar Pramukh) was held. In this first mayoral election held through direct voting, the seat of the mayor of Prayagraj was reserved for women.
After this, the seat remained unreserved in the elections of 2000 and 2006. In 2012, once again the seat was reserved for women. In 2017, it was unreserved again. As a result, in the five elections held so far, thrice the mayor’s seat remained unreserved.
