NEW DELHI: Supreme Court Tuesday sought Maharashtra State Election Commission’s response by Friday on issuance of a notification to conduct polls in Aug-Sept for remaining 20 zila parishads and 211 nagar panchayats and brushed aside SEC’s ongoing SIR exercise as the reason for the delay in holding polls.Senior advocate Balbir Singh, appearing for SEC, told a bench of CJI Surya Kant, and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi that most of state govt officers, who are likely to be engaged in the election work related to zila parishads and nagar panchayats, are at present engaged in carrying out the SIR of poll rolls in the state.When the SEC said it intended to conduct these elections in Feb-March next year after the completion of SIR work, the bench said SIR is conducted by EC and not SEC. “We will ensure you get adequate manpower,” it said.The bench asked the SEC to come out with an election schedule by Friday.The batch of matters before the bench raised myriad yet sensitive issues. One challenged the transposition of socially and economically backward classes (SEBC), identified for reservation in govt employment and admission to govt schools and colleges, with reserving constituencies in elections. It said OBCs are politically advanced and powerful in most of the states and a five-judge SC bench in its 2010 judgement in Krishna Murthy case had mandated that constituencies should be reserved for politically backward sections.
