Politics
OBC quota: Supreme Court asks Madhya Pradesh poll body to notify order to conduct civic polls in 2 weeks
With the Supreme Court on Tuesday directing the states to follow the triple test it laid down in 2021 for reservation to Other Backward Classes (OBC) in local body elections, both the BJP and the Congress in Madhya Pradesh have supported the apex court’s decision ahead of the state Assembly polls scheduled in 2023.
The triple test involves the appointment of panels, gathering empirical data quantifying the extent and backwardness local body-wise, and ensuring the reservation does not exceed the 50 per cent ceiling.
The apex court in its judgement directed the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission to issue a notification regarding panchayat elections within two weeks.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan in his response said the state government will file a review petition against the SC order to hold panchayat elections as well as on OBC reservation.
“We are yet to study the judgement in detail but we will file a review petition hoping that the panchayat elections are held with OBC reservation,” Chouhan added while responding to mediapersons on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court’s order came in response to a petition regarding 23,000 unfilled panchayat seats in Madhya Pradesh. The seats remained vacant as the state could not fulfil the triple test.
Earlier in December 2021, the apex court had directed the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission to re-notify OBC seats in local bodies as general seats and then conduct elections.
Both the BJP and the Congress levelled allegations against each other over the OBC reservation issue, however, both the parties had reached a unanimous consensus not to conduct polls without OBC reservation in the state.
A unanimous resolution in this regard was passed by the state Assembly in December 2021.
A bench of Justices A.M. Khanwilkar, A.S. Oka, and C.T. Ravikumar took serious exception to the vacant 321 urban bodies and nearly 23,260 panchayat seats in Madhya Pradesh.
The bench said such conduct is “bordering on the breakdown of the rule of law”.
The court directed the poll watchdog to notify the elections within two weeks.
It made it clear that neither delimitation nor triple test compliance can delay the filling up of the vacant seats.
The court said the seats must be represented by elected representatives after every five years as per the constitutional requirement.
The bench said the triple test formula laid down in a judgment in March 2021 will be applicable to elections on all local bodies across the country and is binding on all states and state Election Commissions.
Opposition Congress leader Arun Yadav said his party was apprehensive over the gross negligence of the BJP-led state government towards the OBCs.
He added that the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Chief, Mohan Bhagwat has spoken about “ending reservation” and accused the state government of depriving OBCs of their due rights.
Maharashtra
After Babri, it’s Kashi Mathura’s turn. Baba Bageshwar Dham’s provocation in Mumbai.

Mumbai: After the Babri Masjid, now it is Kashi Mathura’s turn, the slogan and provocation has been given by Dhirendra Shastri Bageshwar Dham Baba here in Mumbai. While answering the question of journalists in Andheri, Bageshwar Dham said that the temple is ours and we cannot give it up. When Baba was asked that the dispute had ended after the Babri Masjid, then why is the process of finding temples in mosques going on, to which he said that there are temples in many places and the dispute here is old. On Hindu Rashtra, Bageshwar Dham made it clear that there is also room for Muslims in Hindu Rashtra, his aim is to strengthen Sanatan, while a pilgrimage for Hindu Rashtra will start in Maharashtra to promote Hindutva. He said that it is wrong to declare India a secular country because India has never been secular. He said that there is a need for brotherhood and unity in this country and for that he goes on pilgrimage. Baba, while spewing venom, said that if efforts are not made for Hindu Rashtra and Hindus are not united, then the time is not far when the invasion of India will take place. He said that highly educated doctors in the country are becoming terrorists. If there is a Hindu Rashtra, then a Muslim youth will become Abdul Kalam. Will the mayor of Mumbai be a Muslim or a Hindu? On this, Bageshwar Dham said that he is away from politics, so a candidate should be selected who is useful for the people.
Maharashtra
AAP debut in BMC,will contest all 227 seats on it’s own, rules out allianceannounces

Mumbai: (Press release)The Aam Aadmi Party today announced its decision to contest the upcoming BMC General Elections 2026, on its own strength. The youngest national party, ruled out any possibility of an alliance and stated that they will field AAP candidates on all 227 wards.
“Despite being India’s ‘Urbs Prima’, Mumbai is in a mess. BMC has a whopping Rs. 74,447 Crore annual budget- the largest in Asia. Mumbaikars pay the highest taxes in the country and yet get shoddy public services.
The BMC is a cesspool of corruption and monumental ineptitude. BMC schools are shutting down and education quality remains poor, primary health care centres are non-existent, hospitals are overburdened and BEST is being systematically killed and it’s bus fleet has been starkly declining.Some of the world’s most expensive real estate is surrounded by squalor.
Garbage disposal is poor and filth is lying all around and our ecology has degraded with tree cover rapidly depleting. Pollution is at an all time high, Our AQI levels are as high as Delhi, despite us being on the coast and we are the only city in the world which releases untreated sewage in the open sea.
In the name of Dharavi Redevelopment, we are witnessing the biggest land grab in the history of independent India. For the last 4 years, the BMC has been without public representation and our once 90,000 Crore Fixed Deposits, have fallen sharply and reached its nadir.
All of this is nothing but ‘avoidable suffering’ inflicted on Mumbaikars, by a lumpen political class. Every political party has looted Mumbai, prioritising their selfish interests over public good. “, said Preeti Sharma Menon, Mumbai President, Aam Aadmi Party.
“The AAP is not just the alternative but the solution. Few good people in the BMC, is what Mumbai desperately needs. We know how to fix governance, under Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann’s leadership, we have done so in Delhi and Punjab, provided world class education, healthcare, water and electricity, without corruption and without debt.
We need the broom, to sweep the corrupt and inept away. With just 7 corporators, AAP will have a house leader and representation on all statutory committees (Standing, Improvement, Health, Education and BEST). When we last contested in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, we got 5.16% of the vote share and over 2,73,000 votes. We will better this feat this time round and are getting tremendous support on the ground.
Mumbai needs AAP. We are India’s youngest National party and will contest on all of Mumbai’s 227 seats on our own strength.”, said Sanjay Singh, MP, Aam Aadmi Party.
Crime
Three Noida schools receive hoax bomb threat emails; UP Police launch probe

Noida, Dec 19: Panic gripped Noida in Uttar Pradesh’s Gautam Buddha Nagar district, as several prominent educational institutions received threatening emails warning of bomb blasts in their premises.
The e-mail bomb threat, received by the Step by Step School in Sector-126, triggered an alarm in the school administration, leading to the evacuation of children and teachers, followed by heightened security checks.
The police teams rushed to the campus after they were informed about a bomb threat by the school administration. Police reached the spot, cordoned off the school premises and carried out a thorough search operation; however, nothing suspicious was found. Bomb disposal squad and dog squad were brought in to scan the classrooms, corridors, basement, playgrounds and other sensitive areas.
As no mysterious objects or explosive materials were recovered during the search, the police eventually declared it to be a hoax call.
The latest episode of bomb threats in Noida and other NCR schools marks a continuation of the disturbing trend of hoax threats, seen in the past few months, targeting educational institutions – primarily schools.
Apart from the Step by Step School, the two other schools that are reported to have received hoax threat calls include Amity School and Shiv Nadar School. The simultaneous threats via email to the city’s three prestigious schools created an atmosphere of fear and trepidation among the administration as well as parents.
Meanwhile, the police have launched a detailed probe into the incident, activating its cyber cell to identify the source and sender of the hoax email. An investigation is underway to locate the IP address from which the threatening email was sent, and also to determine whether it was an act of mischief or an organised conspiracy.
The Noida Police have also appealed to the school authorities and the public at large, not to take any suspicious information lightly, but also not to pay attention to rumours and hearsay. Parents as well as the general public have been urged to immediately report any visible threat or suspicious activity to the police.
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