By IANS,
Allahabad : The Allahabad High Court Thursday quashed an Uttar Pradesh government order on discontinuing elections to municipal and other urban local bodies on party lines.
A bench comprising Chief Justice F.I. Rebello and Justice Dilip Gupta ordered restoration of the old practice of elections on party lines only.
The court also rejected the state government’s application for allowing time for moving an appeal before the Supreme Court.
It held the government order as “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.
The high court order has come as a major blow to the Mayawati government, which did not want the elections on party lines simply because of the party’s poor influence in urban areas, it was felt.
After the state government issued the ban in June 2010, all political parties rose up in arms and moved separate representations to the governor, urging him not to sign the bill in that regard.
Simultaneously, some people also moved petitions before the Allahabad High Court.
The elections were due in July and August. However, the state government intends to challenge the order in the apex court.