1 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters 2025:CGHC:5435 NAFR HIGH COURT OF CHHATTISGARH AT BILASPUR WPC No. 455 of 2025 Order reserved on 27.01.2025 Order delivered on 30.01.2025 1. Aivaj Dewangan S/o Late Shri Phool Singh Dewangan Aged About 50 Years R/o Trimurti Nagar, Ward No.31, Chandrashekhar Azad Ward, Nagar Nigam Beergaon, P.S. Urla, Tahsil Raipur, District Raipur, C.G. --- Petitioner versus 1. State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary, Department Of Urban Development And Planning, Mahanadi Bhawan, Naya Raipur, P.S. Rakhi, Raipur, District- Raipur, C.G. 2. Director, Department Of Urban Development And Planning, Directorate, Naya Raipur, P.S. Rakhi, Raipur, District Raipur, C.G. 3. Municipal Corporation Beergaon, Through The Commissioner, Raipur, District Raipur, C.G. --- Respondents with WPC No. 523 of 2025 1. Domesh Dewangan S/o Shri Ramkishan Dewangan Aged About 38 Years R/o Ward No. 29, Vyas Nagar, Nagar Nigam Beergaon, P.S. Urla, Tahsil - Raipur, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh ---Petitioner Versus 1. State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary Department Of Urban Development And Planning, Mahanadi Bhawan, Naya Raipur, P.S. Rakhi, Raipur, District Raipur, Chhattisgarh 2. Director, Department Of Urban Development And Planning, Directorate, Naya Raipur, P.S. Rakhi, Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh 2 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters 3. Municipal Corporation, Beergaon Through The Commissioner, Raipur, District Raipur Chhattisgarh 4. Chhattisgarh State Election Commission Through The Secretary, Nirvachan Bhawan, Sector-19, North Block, Nava Raipur, Atal Nagar, District Raipur Chhattisgarh --- Respondents with WPC No. 456 of 2025 1. Ashok Talmale S/o Gangaram Talmale Aged About 54 Years R/15/1038, Kalimata Mandir Marg Jora Para, Raipur, District- Raipur (C.G.) ---Petitioner Versus 1. State Of Chhattisgarh Through The Secretary Department Of Urban Development And Planning, Mahanadi Bhawan, Naya Raipur, P.S. Rakhi, Raipur, District- Raipur (C.G.) 2. Director, Department Of Urban Development And Planning, Directorate, Naya Raipur, P.S. Rakhi, Raipur, District Raipur (C.G.) 3. Municipal Corporation, Raipur Through The Commissioner, District Raipur (C.G.) ... Respondents (Cause title is taken from Case Information System) For Petitioners : Mr. Prateek Sharma, Advocate For Respondents/State : Mr. Prafull N. Bharat, Advocate General with Mr. Praveen Das, Dy. Advocate General For Respondent/ Election Commission : Mr. R. S. Marhas, Advocate For Respondent/ Municipal Corporation : Mr. Satish Gupta, Adv. and Ms. Ayushi Agrawal, Adv. on behalf of Mr. Vivek Sharma, Adv. Mr. Pulak Bhattacharya, Additional Director, Department of Urban Development and Planning is also present. C A V Order By Bibhu Datta Guru, J. 3 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters 1. Since the facts and grounds involved in all these petitions are similar, they are being considered and decided by this common order. 2. By the present writ petitions, the petitioners are seeking setting aside the notification dated 15-1-2025 issued by the State Government by which it has notified the reservation of the office of the Mayor of Municipal Corporation and also seeking setting aside the entire proceedings dated 7-1-2025 by which reservation of post of Mayor of the Municipal Corporations has been decided. In WPC No.523 of 2025 the petitioner further seeking setting aside the election notification dated 20-1-2025 issued by the Chhattisgarh State Election Commission. 3. (i) Learned counsel appearing for the petitioners would submit that notification dated 15.01.2025 and the procedure conducted on 07.01.2025 for reservation of post of Mayor are arbitrary, unreasonable, discriminatory, unauthorized, unwarranted and illegal. He would further submit that by 94th amendment part IX regarding the Municipalities was incorporated in the Constitution of India whereby in Article 243T reservation of seats is prescribed. Under Section 11 and 11-A of the Chhattisgarh Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 (henceforth ‘the Act, 1956’) reservation of seats and reservation of the office of the Mayor is prescribed and in Section 11-A(5) it is provided that the reservation shall be made in such manner as may be prescribed. By exercising powers under Section 11-A(5) read with section 433 of the Act 1956 rules are framed, namely; Chhattisgarh Municipalities (Reservation of office of Mayor and President) Rules, 1999, (henceforth ‘the Rules, 1999’) 4 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters whereby in Rule 5, the procedure of reservation is prescribed and in Rule 6 speaks about procedure of subsequent reservation. Rule 9 is about process of reservation. According to the learned counsel, the rotation is a continuation process and cannot stop anywhere nor again restarted afresh. (ii) Learned counsel would further submit that three Municipal Corporations are reserved for SC, ST category on the basis of having maximum population according to the 2011 general census. Therefore, the rest of eleven Municipal Corporations, Mayor post will rotated only in four categories i.e. OBC, OBC women category, unreserved and unreserved women category. Therefore, the reservations will be made accordingly and if explanation of Rule 6 will be taken into consideration with Rule 9, then once any post is reserved for unreserved women category, then the same Municipality Mayor post will not be reserved for unreserved women category again until all the Corporations are reserved as unreserved women category by rotation. He would submit that since the reservation is wrongly applied by the respondent State, therefore, rotation in reservation in post of Mayor is not followed properly and the same is done as per the whims and fancies of the authorities. (iii) According to the learned counsel, the respondent State had wrongly applied rotation system whereby it appears that they have treated the rotation to be completed in the year 2014 election and again fresh rotation system started from year 2019 election but till the position of year 2014 also Dhamtari Municipal Corporation was not reserved for 5 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters OBC category but rotation treated to be completed. Similarly Raipur, Rajnandgaon, Bhilai and Chirmiri were not reserved for unreserved women category till 2014 election. In the year 2014 three posts were reserved for unreserved women category. Even in the election of 2019 also reserved seats of particular cadre were not put for lottery system which can be done only if rotation is continuing and not when rotation is started afresh. (iv) According to the learned counsel, in view of faulty reservation process applied by the respondent authorities, by impugned notification dated 15.01.2025 the Municipal Corporation Raipur was reserved for unreserved women, Municipal Corporation Birgaon is reserved for unreserved woman, Durg is reserved for OBC women, Municipal Corporation Bhilai is reserved for OBC, Rishali Municipal Corporation is reserved for SC women, Municipal Corporation Charoda is reserved for OBC open, Municipal Corporation Rajnandgaon is kept unreserved open, Municipal Corporation Dhamtari is kept unreserved open, Municipal Corporation Jagdalpur is reserved for unreserved open, Municipal Corporation Raigarh is reserved for SC open, Municipal Corporation Korba is reserved for unreserved women, Municipal Corporation Bilaspur is reserved for OBC open, Municipal Corporation Ambikapur is reserved for ST open, Municipal Corporation Chirmiri is kept as unreserved open. (v) Learned counsel would submit that the entire procedure of reservation conducted for the post of Mayor of total fourteen Municipal 6 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters Corporation of the State of Chhattisgarh on 07.01.2025 and notification dated 15.01.2025 are in complete violation of procedure prescribed in the Rules, 1999; the Act, 1956 and the Constitution of India. In support of his contention, he would place reliance upon the decision rendered by the Supreme Court in the matter Sanjay Ramdas Patil v Sanjay and Others1 (paras 31 & 32) and Kishorchandra Chhaganlal Rathod v Union of India and Others2. 4. (A) Learned counsel appearing for the State, per contra, would submit that the grievance of the petitioner is completely misplaced and no cause has been brought out by the petitioner to exercise the power under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, as the petitioner has not disclosed the entire particulars of the case and has not placed the necessary particulars. He would further submit that while invoking the extra ordinary jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner have to come with clean hand and one who does not act with equity, has no right to claim equity from the Court. The petitioner has deliberately concealed the material facts and has made misrepresentation in order to mislead the Court. (B) The instant writ petition has been filed being aggrieved by the reservation proceedings conducted on 07.01.2025 by the respondents for reservation of post of Mayor of the Municipal Corporation and the notification dated 15.01.2025 issued by the State with all consequential proceedings and orders whereby the post of Mayor of Municipal 1 (2021) 10 SCC 306 2 2024 SCC OnLine SC 1879 7 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters Corporation has been reserved. He would submit that the ST and SC reservation is done vertically whereas, the reservation for OBC and woman (in all candidates) is done by virtue of horizontal reservation by draw of lots. The cycle for OBC woman and UR woman which were to be drawn by lots got completed from 2004 to 2014 and from 2019 onwards, the fresh cycle with respect to woman reservation was carried out. Rajnandgaon, Chirmiri, Risali and Jagdalpur Municipal Corporations were selected by draw of lots for OBC and UR woman categories. (C) Learned counsel would submit that after reserving the seats for ST and SC candidates on the basis of ratio of their population with respect to total population of the municipalities, the remaining seats subject to maximum of 50% of the seats, would be reserved for OBC. The horizontal reservation for woman ST, woman SC and OBC woman and UR woman are done through draw of lots and by adopting the procedure of rotation. In the year 2004, the reservation of Korba, Raipur and Rajnandgaon corporations seats were selected by draw of lots for OBC categories and in the year 2009, the reservation of Chirmiri, Durg and Bhilai corporations seats were selected by draw of lots for OBC category. In the year 2014, the reservation of Birgaon, Jagdalpur and Bilaspur corporations got an opportunity of reservation of OBC for draw of lots. Thus, it is quite vivid that cycle of rotation was completed from 2014 and the fresh cycle commences from 2019 onwards whereby, by draw of lots, Rajnandgaon, Korba and Dhamtari were selected. In the present year 2025, the second cycle of rotation (2019 onwards), the 8 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters Rajnandgaon, Korba and Dhamtari were excluded from the lots and the remaining lots were drawn for the remaining local bodies and by choice/faith, the Bhilai, Charoda Bhilai, Bilaspur and Durg got reserved for OBC candidates. It is noteworthy that, no local body has ever been repeated in the second cycle commenced from 2019 onwards and therefore, it is clear that, all fairness and transparency has been adopted in accordance with the provisions of the relevant rules. Out of these four draws mentioned above, a separate draw of lot was done for selection of OBC woman wherein, the Durg Municipal Corporation has been selected as OBC woman candidate. It is matter of faith and fair choice that, in the draw of lots for 2025 election, the Raipur Municipal Corporation could not be selected as OBC category. The petitioner has just imagined and without any basis that, the draw of lot was done to defeat his possibility of contesting election. (D) Learned counsel would submit that the election for Mayor and President of Municipalities is contested on party-wise basis wherein, all the prominent parties launched their candidates for contesting the election. During the proceedings i.e. on 07.01.2025, all the prominent leaders of all various political parties were duly present and out of as many as 200 persons who were present in the said proceedings, only eight objections have been received with respect to all the different Municipal Corporations and the said objections so received have duly been considered and decided on the spot. 9 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters (E) Learned counsel would submit that the instant petition is sponsored at the behest of some person with ulterior motive who intend to damage the democratic procedure of election by failing such vague and baseless petition. The entire proceedings of reservation have been conducted in accordance with the provisions as contained under Rule 5 & 6 of the Rules, 1999. The entire exercise of reservation has been done by virtue of rotation and draw of lots and no act of arbitrariness and illegality can be attributed to the Answering Respondents State. It is also clear that, the sole intention of the petitioner is to delay the election proceedings on the pretext of vague and bald allegations. He would submit that the present petition is an effort to derail and disrupt the constitutional proceedings of elections by virtue of vague and baseless allegations raised in the instant writ petition. (F) According to the learned counsel, the entire proceedings have been conducted in a fair manner and nothing has been placed on record by the petitioner to disclose that, any irregularity has been committed and the procedure is contrary to the rules. The action of the State is proper, legal, within the jurisdiction and strictly in accordance with law and there is no infirmity or illegality in the impugned notification. (G) To buttress his contention, learned counsel would place reliance upon the decisions rendered by the Supreme Court in the matters Anugrah Narain Singh and Another v State of U.P. and Others3, Jaspal Singh Arora v State of M.P. and Others4, Election Commission 3 (1996) 6 SCC 303 4 (1998) 9 SCC 594 10 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters of India through Secretary v Ashok Kumar and Others5, Gurdeep Singh Dhillon v Satpal and Others6, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) v Secretary, Governor’s Secretariat and Others7, State of Goa and Another v Fouziya Imtiaz Shaikh and Another8 and Sanjay Ramdas Patil (supra). 5. Learned counsel appearing for the State Election Commission and the Corporations would adopt the arguments advanced by the learned Advocate General appearing on behalf of the State. 6. I have heard learned counsel appearing for the parties and perused the documents and also perused the copies of proceedings regarding reservation of the years 2009, 2014, 2019 & 2025 and the charts produced during the course of hearing, which are taken on record. 7. For the sake of convenience, it would be relevant to quote Article 243T of the Constitution of India; Sections 11, 11A and 433 of the Act, 1956; and Rules 5, 6 and 9 of the Rules, 1999, which read thus : 243T of the Constitution of India : 243T. Reservation of seats.--(1) Seats shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in every Municipality and the number of seats so reserved shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in that Municipality as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the Municipal area or of the Scheduled Tribes in the Municipal area bears to the total population of that area and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Municipality. 5 (2000) 8 SCC 216 6 (2006) 10 SCC 616 7 (2020) 6 SCC 548 8 (2021) 8 SCC 401 11 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters (2) Not less than one-third of the total number of seats reserved under clause (1) shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or, as the case may be, the Scheduled Tribes. (3) Not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every Municipality shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Municipality. (4) The offices of Chairpersons in the Municipalities shall be reserved for the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and women in such manner as the Legislature of a State may, by law, provide. (5) The reservation of seats under clauses (1) and (2) and the reservation of offices of Chairpersons (other than the reservation for women) under clause (4) shall cease to have effect on the expiration of the period specified in article 334. (6) Nothing in this Part shall prevent the Legislature of a State from making any provision for reservation of seats in any Municipality or offices of Chairpersons in the Municipalities in favour of backward class of citizens Sections 11, 11A and 433 of the Act, 1956 : 11. Reservation of seats.--(1) Out of the total number of wards determined under sub-section (1) of Section 10, such number of seats shall be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in every Municipal Corporation as bears, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in the Municipal Corporation as the population of the Scheduled Castes or of the Scheduled Tribes in the Municipal area bears to the total population of that area and such wards shall be those in which the population of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes, as the case may be, is most concentrated. (2) As nearly as possible twenty five percent of the total number of wards shall be reserved for other backward classes in such Municipal Corporations, where fifty per cent, or less seats are reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, and such seats shall be allotted by rotation to different wards in such manner as may be prescribed : 12 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters Provided that if from any ward so reserved no nomination paper is filed for election, as a councillor, by any member of the backward classes, then the Collector shall be competent to declare it as unreserved. (3) As nearly as possible fifty percent] of the total number of seats reserved under sub-sections (1) and (2) shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes or other backward classes, as the case may be. (4) As nearly as possible fifty percent] (including the number of seats reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other backward classes), of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election in every Municipal Corporation shall be reserved for women and such seats shall be allotted by rotation to different wards in a Municipal Corporation in such manner as may be prescribed. (5) The reservation of seats under sub-sections (1), (2) and (3) shall cease to have effect on the expiration of the period specified in Article 334 of the Constitution of India. Explanation. In this section 'other backward classes' means category of persons belonging to backward classes as notified by the State Government. 11-A. Reservation of the office of the Mayor.--(1) Out of the total number of offices of Mayors of Corporations in the State, such number of offices of Mayors shall be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, as shall bear the same proportion, as nearly as possible, as the population of each of these categories within the limits of all the Municipal Corporations in the State bears to the total population within such limits. (2) As nearly as possible, twenty five percent of the total number of offices of Mayors shall be reserved for Other Backward Classes. (3) As nearly as possible fifty percent of the total number of offices of Mayor reserved under sub- sections (1) and (2) shall be reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Classes, as the case may be. 13 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters (4) As nearly as possible fifty percent (including the number of offices reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Classes) of the total number of offices shall be reserved for women. (5) The aforesaid reservation shall be made in such manner as may be prescribed. (6) The reservation of offices of Mayors under sub- sections (1). (2) and (3) shall cease to have effect on expiration of the period specified in Article 334 of the Constitution of India. Explanation. In this section and in Section 11, the expressions "Scheduled Castes", "Scheduled Tribes" and "Other Backward Classes" shall have the same meaning as assigned to them, in the Madhya Pradesh Lok Seva (Anusuchit Jatiyon, Anusuchit Jan Jatiyon Aur Anya Pichhade Vargon Ke Liye Arakshan) Adhiniyam, 1994 (No. 21 of 1994). 433. Power of State Government to make rules. (1) The State Government may make rules for the purpose of carrying into effet the provision of this Act. (2) In particular and without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing power such rules may provide for the following matters, namely:- (a) the manner of making applications for permission to borrow money; the enquiries to be made in relation to loans and the manner of conducting such enquiries; the inspection of any works carried out by means of loans and the utilisation of unexpanded balances of loans, etc; (b) the returns, statements and reports to be submitted by the Corporation; (c) any other matter which is to be or may be prescribed. (3) All rules made under this Act shall be laid on the table of the Legislative Assembly. Rules 5, 6 and 9 of the Rules, 1999 5. Procedure of reservation.-(1) Such number of offices shall be reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes as shall bear the same proportion, as nearly as may be, as the population of each of these categories, within the limits of all the Municipal 14 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters Corporations, all Municipal Councils and all Nagar Panchayats, as the case may be, in the State bears to the total population within such limits. Such offices shall be reserved in descending order in those Municipalities in which the percentage of population of Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes, as the case may be, is highest in their total population. Explanation. If there is any Municipality where the percentage of population of both the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is highest in their category, then reservation shall be made for such category whose percentage is higher in that Municipality. (2) Leaving the Municipality where reservation has been made for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, as the case may be, under sub-rule (1), lot of the names of the remaining Municipalities shall be drawn and as nearly as possible, one-fourth of the total offices shall be reserved for Other Backward Classes. (3) Out of the offices reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes under sub-rules (1) and (2), as the case may be, as nearly as may be one-third offices shall be reserved for women of the aforesaid categories by drawing of lots. (4) As nearly as may be one-third [including the number of offices reserved for women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes under sub-rule (3)] of the total number of seats, shall be reserved for women by drawing of lot of the names of unreserved Municipalities. (5) While calculating under sub-rules (1), (2), (3) and (4) the fraction less than half shall be ignored and fraction of half and more than half shall be counted as one. 6. Procedure of subsequent reservation.--For every subsequent reservation purpose, same procedure of reservation shall be adopted as laid down in Rule 5, but the reservation to be made by lot shall be by rotation system and for this purpose the names of Municipalities, offices of which have been reserved for a category shall not be included in the lot for the reservation of that category until such Municipality does not come again in the order of reservation. Explanation. The names of such Municipalities in which reservation for other women (including 15 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters reservation for women belonging to the categories of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes) has been made previously shall not be included in the lot for reservation of women belonging to any of such categories until the name of such Municipality does not come again for reservation of any women belonging to the aforesaid category in the rotation system. 9. Process of reservation.--(1) The prescribed authority shall publish a notice of the date, place and time of the making reservation in such Hindi newspaper having circulation in the areas of the Municipalities. (2) The prescribed authority shall record the process adopted for reservation in writing and keep a register permanently in which it shall be mentioned that when and in which Municipality the offices of Chairperson have been reserved for which category so that at the time of drawing lot for the subsequent reservation, rotation system may be adopted. (3) Immediately after making the reservation of the offices of Chairpersons, the prescribed authority shall send the information to this effect to the State Government and the State Government shall publish such information in the Madhya Pradesh Gazette and shall also be pasted on the notice boards of the office of the Collector and the office of the Municipality and a copy of the same shall be sent to the State Election Commission. On maintainability : 8. Before proceeding with the merits of the case, it is noteworthy to mention here that during pendency of the petitions bearing WPC No.455 of 2025 & 456 of 2025 the notification for election of Municipal Corporations and Municipalities has been issued by the State Election Commission by its order dated 20-1-2025 and the same has duly been published in the official gazette. The said notification has been challenged in WPC No.523 of 2025. 16 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters 9. In this regard, it is worthwhile to mention here that under Article 243ZG(b) of the Constitution of India, no election to any Municipality can be called in question except by an election petition presented to a Tribunal as is provided by or under any law made by the Legislature of a State. This would mean that from the date of notification of the election till the date of the declaration of result a judicial hands-off is mandated by the non obstante clause contained in Article 243ZG debarring the writ Court under Articles 226 and 227 from interfering once the election has begun until it is over. On merits : 10. The petitioners have filed these petitions challenging the reservation proceedings conducted on 07.01.2025 by the respondents for reservation of post of Mayor of the Municipal Corporation and the notification dated 15.01.2025 issued by the State with all consequential proceedings and orders whereby the post of Mayor of Municipal Corporation has been reserved. 11. From perusal of the pleadings and the documents, it is manifest that the ST and SC reservation is done vertically whereas, the reservation for OBC and womanis done by virtue of horizontal reservation by draw of lots. The cycle for OBC woman and UR woman which were to be drawn by lots got completed from 2004 to 2014 and from 2019 onwards, the fresh cycle with respect to woman reservation was carried out. Rajnandgaon, Chirmiri, Risali and Jagdalpur Municipal Corporations were selected by draw of lots for OBC and UR woman categories. After 17 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters reserving the seats for ST and SC candidates on the basis of ratio of their population with respect to total population of the Municipalities, remaining seats subject to maximum of 50% of the seats, would be reserved for OBC. The horizontal reservation for woman ST, woman SC and OBC woman and UR woman are done through draw of lots and by adopting the procedure of rotation. From further perusal, it is also manifest that in the year 2004, the reservation of Korba, Raipur and Rajnandgaon corporations seats were selected by draw of lots for OBC categories and in the year 2009, the reservation of Chirmiri, Durg and Bhilai Corporations seats were selected by draw of lots for OBC category. In the year 2014, the reservation of Birgaon, Jagdalpur and Bilaspur corporations got an opportunity of reservation of OBC for draw of lots. Thus, it is quite vivid that cycle of rotation was completed from 2014 and the fresh cycle commences from 2019 onwards whereby, by draw of lots, Rajnandgaon, Korba and Dhamtari were selected. 12. In the 2025, the second cycle of rotation (2019 onwards), Rajnandgaon, Korba and Dhamtari were excluded from the lots and the remaining lots were drawn for the remaining local bodies and by choice/faith, the Bhilai, Charoda Bhilai, Bilaspur and Durg got reserved for OBC candidates. It is to be noted that no local body has ever been repeated in the second cycle commenced from 2019 onwards and therefore, it is clear that transparency has been adopted in accordance with law. Out of these four draws mentioned above, a separate draw of lot was done for selection of OBC woman wherein, the Durg Municipal Corporation has been selected as OBC woman candidate. In the draw of lots for 2025 18 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters election, the Raipur Municipal Corporation could not be selected as OBC category. The petitioner has just imagined and without any basis that the draw of lot was done to defeat his possibility of contesting election. 13. From the copy of proceedings produced before this Court, it can be seen that the election for Mayor and President of Municipalities is contested on party-wise basis wherein the respective parties launched their candidates for contesting the election. During the proceedings i.e. on 07.01.2025 several leaders were present and eight objections have been raised, which have duly been considered and decided on the spot. Thus, the entire proceedings of reservation have been conducted in accordance with the provisions as contained under Rule 5 & 6 of the Rules, 1999. The action of the State is just and proper and there is no infirmity or illegality. 14. As far as the reliance placed by the learned counsel appearing for the petitioners upon the decision rendered by the Supreme Court in the matter of Kishorchandra Chhaganlal Rathod (supra) is concerned, in the said judgment it has been held that if the order is found to be manifestly arbitrary and irreconcilable to the constitutional values, the Court can grant the appropriate remedy to rectify the situation and further settled the principles regarding scope, ambit and limitations on the exerise of judicial review in delimitation matters whereas in the case at hand this Court has not found any arbitrariness in the action of the respondent authorities and as such the decision rendered by the Supreme 19 / 19 WPC No.455 of 2025 and other connected matters Court in the matter of Kishorchandra Chhaganlal Rathod (supra) would not come to the rescue of the petitioners. 15. Applying the well settled principles of law to the facts of the present case and for the reasons mentioned hereinabove, in my opinion, there is no illegality or irregularity in the notification as also in the entire proceedings. The same is just and proper warranting no interference of this Court. Even otherwise, since the notification for election has already been issued, this Court cannot interfere in the election process as has been well settled by the Supreme Court in a catena of cases. 16. Ex-consequenti, all the petition, sans substratum, are liable to be and are hereby dismissed. There shall be no order as to cost(s). Sd/- (Bibhu Datta Guru) Judge Gowri K GOWRI SANKARA RAO Digitally signed by K GOWRI SANKARA RAO Date: 2025.01.30 12:44:10 +0530