News Citation : 2026 LN (HC) 112 | 2026:JHHC:1901-DB

January 27, 2026 : The Jharkhand High Court has declined to interfere with the State Election Commission’s notification reserving the mayoral post of Giridih Municipal Corporation for the Scheduled Caste category while keeping the Dhanbad Municipal Corporation mayor’s post unreserved for the upcoming Urban Local Bodies elections.

A division bench headed by the Chief Justice, with Justice Sujit Narayan Prasad authoring the judgment, delivered the ruling while hearing a writ petition filed by Santanu Kumar Chandra, a resident of Dhanbad. The petitioner had sought directions to reserve the mayor’s post in Dhanbad for the Scheduled Caste category, citing population figures from the 2011 Census and amendments made to the Jharkhand Municipal Act in 2022.

The court noted that the State Government and the Election Commission had acted on the basis of recommendations made by a Dedicated Commission for Backward Classes, constituted in compliance with Supreme Court directions on the “triple test” for local body reservations. Based on these recommendations, the state had classified Jharkhand’s nine municipal corporations into two groups, placing Ranchi and Dhanbad in a separate category as “million-plus” municipal corporations.

The petitioner argued that this sub-classification was unconstitutional, claiming that Article 243Q of the Constitution recognises only three types of urban local bodies and does not permit further division. He also contended that Dhanbad, having the highest Scheduled Caste population among municipal corporations in Jharkhand, should be given reservation priority under the amended law.

Rejecting these arguments, the court held that the classification was rooted in empirical data and expert recommendations, and was not arbitrary. The bench observed that the 2022 amendment to Section 27 of the Jharkhand Municipal Act did away with rotational reservation for mayoral posts, but did not eliminate the broader constitutional ceiling of 50 percent reservation or the requirement to ensure balanced representation across categories.

The court also took note of the fact that municipal elections in Jharkhand had not been held for over a decade and cautioned against judicial interference once the election process had been set in motion. It held that the reservation framework adopted by the state did not violate Articles 14 or 243T of the Constitution.

An interlocutory application filed by an OBC resident of Giridih, challenging the consecutive reservation of the mayor’s post for Scheduled Castes in that corporation, was allowed only to the extent of making him a party to the case. However, the court did not find merit in disturbing the existing reservation decision.

With this ruling, the High Court cleared the way for the State Election Commission to proceed with the Urban Local Bodies elections as notified, bringing an end to the legal challenge over mayoral reservation in Dhanbad and Giridih.

Case Reference : W.P. (C) No. 7296 of 2025, Santanu Kumar Chandra vs The State of Jharkhand and Others; counsel for the petitioner: Mr. Binod Singh, Advocate; for the State: Mr. Rajiv Ranjan, Advocate General; for the State Election Commission: Mr. Sumeet Gadodia, Ms. Shruti Shekhar and Ms. Nidhi Lall, Advocates.