13.7.13

Somewhere in Uttar Pradesh....

The Lucknow bench of Allahabad high court stayed caste-based rallies organized by political parties in the state. It was yet another blow to political parties after the apex court earlier this week sought curbs on freebies promised in poll manifestoes and barred convicts and undertrials from contesting elections.
“We stay such rallies. This is not good for the society,” said the bench of Justices Uma Nath Singh and Mahendra Dayal, after hearing a PIL seeking an EC ban on such rallies.While the Supreme Court orders earlier this week were aimed at checking the use of muscle and money power, the Lucknow bench of Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice Mahendra Dayal on Thursday restrained political parties from indulging in politics on caste and communal lines. On a public interest litigation filed by a local lawyer Motilal Yadav, the bench banned all political rallies, meetings and gatherings based on caste, creed or religion in the state till further orders. It also issued notice to the Centre and UP government, the Election Commission of India and four major political outfits — Congress, BJP, SP and BSP — for their response on July 30, the next date of hearing.
 The PIL sought directions for the Election Commission to ban all rallies and meetings on caste and communal lines and demanded a ban on persons and political parties from contesting elections, if they organize or attend such events. The petitioner said in his plea that the EC must also cancel the registration of the political parties found guilty of holding such rallies.
Major political parties welcomed the decision claiming they were clear and blaming their rivals for the trend Interestingly, most political parties not only organize events on caste and communal lines but also have separate cells for different castes and minorities.
Political analysts and social activists also lauded the order but said that the court must also look into the ways and means parties may adopt to circumvent the decision. For instance, they said, parties may not organize such rallies but their leaders can take part in similar events organized by caste based organizations. 

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