All-party meet: No local body polls in Maharashtra till OBC data is collected

Uddhav Thackeray. File Pic

An all-party meeting convened by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray unanimously decided that local body polls be postponed till the state backward class commission compiles empirical data giving a clear picture on the political backwardness of OBCs.

Making an announcement about the decision, a statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) after the meeting said empirical data was required to restore political reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local governing bodies.

The statement said the meeting resolved to direct the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) to compile relevant data on the OBCs and till the work is completed, local body polls be postponed. The commission will be directed to complete the data compilation work at the earliest, the CMO said. The Supreme Court earlier this year quashed quota for the OBCs in local bodies in Maharashtra after observing that the total reservation should not exceed 50 per cent.

The apex court, while reading down section 12(2)(c) of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 which provided 27 per cent quota for persons belonging to the backward class, had also quashed notifications issued by the state election commission in 2018 and 2020 to the extent of providing reservation of seats in local bodies for OBC candidates. Talking to reporters after attending the meeting, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP supported the idea of postponing elections to local bodies till data on the OBC population is available.

"The state backward class commission should put together empirical data about the OBCs in the next three or four months. Till then, no local governing body election should be held. All parties have agreed on this," Fadnavis said. Even after data is collected and OBC reservation is restored, there would be an issue in three districts for which a separate policy decision should be taken, the former chief minister said. If no decision is taken, there will be no reserved OBC constituencies in these three districts, Fadnavis said.

Asked about the backward class panel seeking Rs 437 crore, the BJP leader said, "The commission does not need such a huge amount immediately. Whatever they need now, should be given by the state government. "Surprisingly, what I am telling the state government is not different from what the Supreme Court had asked it to do. There has been a huge delay in restoring the OBC quota," Fadnavis claimed.

On Congress MLA Naseem Khan's demand to include those who migrated to Maharashtra decades ago in the OBC quota, he said, "Once the community to which such people belong is included in the state OBC list, then quota can be given." Chandrashekhar Bawankule, another BJP leader, alleged that the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition government was dragging its feet on the issue of restoration of OBC quota as a strong lobby within the government was against the provision.

"Those who played a crucial role in the formation of this government are now trying to delay the process. They want to keep local governing bodies under their control," the former minister alleged and warned of agitation on the issue. Reacting to Fadnavis''s statements, state Congress chief Nana Patole claimed the previous BJP-led government had failed to submit data about the OBCs.

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"When Devendra Fadnavis was chief minister (2014-19), he issued an ordinance and postponed the election to Nagpur Zilla Parishad. After it was challenged, the Bombay High Court ordered the government to submit data, which he failed to do," Patole alleged.

NCP leader and state minister Chhagan Bhujbal said Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta, representing the Union government, had sought time till September 23 during the ongoing hearing on the issue before the apex court. "Our (state's) lawyer Kapil Sibal is going to seek the court's directive to the Union government to share the (existing) empirical data with every state, including Maharashtra," he told reporters.

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