The Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is all set to table a bill on the lines of the Madhya Pradesh Act to ensure reservation for the OBC community today, March 7.
It means, if the bill gets passed, no elections to the 15 municipal corporations, 25 zilla parishads and 232 nagar parishads can be held without the 27 per cent reservation for the OBC community.
This move is aimed at taking over powers for delimitation of wards in civic bodies. The State Election Commission (SEC) will continue to enjoy the power to schedule elections. However, elections cannot take place unless the state government takes a decision on the delimitation of wards and finalizes the number of members of the civic and local bodies.
Responding discussion on OBC reservation question under Rule 289 in the Legislative Council, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said that all the members of the House are in favour of OBC reservation and the Election Commission has the right to decide when the election is to be held.
Pawar also called on the opposition to refrain from politicising the issue and clarified that neither was the government working under any pressure nor would it succumb to any.
Pawar said the state government had already provided funds to the MSBCC for the compilation of empirical data on the OBCs, adding that it would be done in the stipulated format.
He also said that they were postponing the elections to the local bodies for three months to complete the compilation of the empirical data in the format suggested by the Supreme Court (SC). Till then, the local bodies will have administrators appointed.
What did the Supreme Court say?
The Supreme Court has directed to conduct the elections of Maharashtra Panchayat and local bodies without OBC reservation. Court rejected interim report of the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission (MSBCC) recommending the restoration of 27% OBC reservation in local bodies.
The court said that this report on backwardness has been prepared without proper study.
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