NCP leader Dhananjay Munde has demanded that elections to local municipal bodies in Maharashtra, due next month, should not be held without providing reservation to OBCs, and claimed that the State Backward Classes Commission’s report on quota for the community is ready. Elections to 92 municipal councils and four nagar panchayats in Maharashtra will be held on August 18 Election Commission (SEC) made the announcement on Friday.
Elections to local urban bodies will be held in Pune, Sangli, Solapur, Kolhapur, Nashik, Dhule, Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Ahmednagar, Aurangabad, Jalna, Beed, Osmanabad, Latur, Amravati and Buldhana districts. In a tweet posted on Friday night, former social justice minister Munde said, “The Backward Classes Commission constituted by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on OBC quota has prepared its report. It is our firm stand that elections to municipal bodies should not be held in the state without the announcement of OBC reservation.
SEC sources said elections to municipal bodies are likely to be held without Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservations next month, while a related matter is pending before the Supreme Court.
The BJP had earlier opposed holding local body elections until the OBC quota set by the Supreme Court was restored in March last year. But the party is now in power in the state with the Shiv Sena faction led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, whose rebellion against the Shiv Sena leadership triggered the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government last month.
Earlier, State Congress President Nana Patole had also accused former Chief Minister Fadnavis and the central government led by PM. Narendra Modi OBCs were responsible for losing the political quota in the local body elections. He demanded that elections should not be held till reservation is restored.
SC had refused to restore OBC reservation in the absence of empirical data. A three-judge bench of the apex court had earlier said that reservation in favor of OBCs in local bodies in Maharashtra cannot exceed 50 per cent of the total seats reserved for SCs, STs and OBCs.
It referred to three conditions noted in the 2010 Constitution Bench decision. The stipulations included specifying the proportion of reservation required to be made local body-wise provision in the light of the recommendations of the Commission so as not to be overpriced and in any way erroneous. In case, such reservation shall not exceed 50 per cent of the total number of seats reserved in favor of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes.
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