BJP asks Maharashtra election commission to delay local body polls citing injustice to OBC

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar requested that the Maharashtra State Election Commission on Wednesday postpone the local body elections scheduled for December 21, claiming that doing so would be an injustice to Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Shelar's request came in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision to postpone the election on seats where the OBCs had a 27% quota. 

In view of the Supreme Court ruling, Maharashtra State Election Commissioner U P S Madan declared on Tuesday that elections to Zilla Parishad, panchayat Samiti, and gramme panchayats will be held as scheduled, save for seats reserved for OBCs. Various political parties have criticized the polling organization's conclusion.

While the election process for the seats where there is a reservation of up to 27% for OBCs has been halted, the Supreme Court has made it clear that the election process for the remaining seats would proceed. Shelar, the BJP's chief whip in Maharashtra's assembly and a former minister, filed a written appeal with the state election commissioner on Wednesday to postpone the elections.

Local body polls in Maharashtra

"The election (in local bodies) is not going to be conducted on some seats because the OBC data is not available. Holding elections on remaining seats by excluding some would be an injustice to the OBC community. Hence we requested the commissioner to put the elections on hold till this issue is resolved," he said. The Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress-led MVA government have stated that it will submit an affidavit with the Supreme Court, seeking that it either allows polling on all seats in local bodies on December 21 or postpone it entirely.

According to the schedule, bypolls for four empty seats in four municipal corporations and 7,130 seats in 4,554-gramme panchayats will be held on December 21 in 106 nagar panchayats, zilla parishads of Bhandara and Gondia, and 15 panchayat samitis under them.

In March 2021, the Supreme Court ruled that OBC reservations in Maharashtra's concerned local governments cannot exceed 50% of the total seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and OBCs combined. While reading down section 12(2)(c) of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act 1961, which provided 27% reservation for persons belonging to the backward class, the apex court also quashed the state election commission's notifications issued in 2018 and 2020 to the extent of providing OBCs with seats in concerned local bodies.

(with inputs from ANI/PTI)