Restoring OBC quota on top of agenda for Maharashtra govt

Protests were held for OBC quota during the tenure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. File pic

After putting several projects on track, the government led by Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and the BJP has taken steps to ensure other backward class (OBC) quota in the polls to the local self-government bodies. The ward boundaries have been finalised, draft electoral rolls published and constitutional political reservations decided.

The Supreme Court had allowed the state election commission (SEC) to delay elections in the cities affected the worst during the monsoon, and continue with the normal schedule in others. Mumbai, Thane and most cities in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region are likely to have polls only after the rains recede.

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday reviewed the matter of OBC quota, which is pending before the SC. The court had asked the SEC to hold local body polls without the reservation. It has asked the state to submit an empirical data for its restoration.

The dedicated commissioners, led by former chief secretary J K Banthia, are in the last month of their work to collate the empirical data. "A flawless data will be submitted soon, and the SC requested to do the needful. I reviewed the preparedness today and issued essential instructions," said Fadnavis.

The BJP had locked horns with the MVA on the issue ever since it cropped up last summer. While the then state government had blamed the Centre for not providing census data, the BJP, in the Opposition at the time, said the Union government's data was flawed and didn't have caste statistics.

While Maharashtra delayed the appointment of a dedicated commission for collection of empirical data, neighbouring state Madhya Pradesh, which was also instructed to hold polls without OBC quota, managed to resolve the crisis. The state machinery is learnt to have taken a leaf from MP's project report, but the BJP challenged its execution.