A day after the Supreme Court stayed the election of reserved seats for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the upcoming local body elections in Maharashtra, the State Election Commission on Tuesday deferred the local body elections for the OBC category.
A press note issued by State Election Commissioner UPS Madan said, “As per the directions of the Supreme Court, it has been decided to postpone the local body elections for OBC category. But elections for non-OBC category including SC, ST and general category were notified earlier.
Elections to 106 Nagar Panchayats, Bhandara and Gondia Zilla Parishad, including the Panchayat Samitis under its purview, will be held on December 21. Simultaneously, polling will be held on December 21 for the four vacant Municipal Corporation seats and 7,130 vacant seats in 4,554 gram panchayats.
The local bodies and seats where elections have been postponed are: 23 seats (total seats 105) in Bhandara and Gondia Zilla Parishads; 15 seats in Bhandara and 45 seats in Gondia Panchayat Samitis (total seats 210); 344 seats in 106 Nagar Panchayats (total seats 1802); and a by-election for a city council (four seats in total).
The SEC said that voting in all OBC seats of local bodies has been deferred till further orders and directions of the Supreme Court.
On Monday, a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar observed that “the State Election Commission should refrain from going ahead with the election schedule already notified in respect of seats reserved for ‘OBC category only’ in the respective local bodies.” The election schedule in respect of all the local bodies across the State in respect of the seats reserved for Backward Classes shall be put on hold till further orders.
There was a sharp reaction from all sides on the stay of the Supreme Court. The ruling Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena and cons BJP Were unanimous in expressing concern over the denial of political reservation to OBCs.
State BJP president Chandrakant Patil said, “We request the state government to hold local body elections till the OBC reservation is restored.”
Congress President Nana Patole told Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray that it is not right to hold elections without OBC reservation.
NCP MP Supriya Sule demanded that the Center bring a law to ensure political reservation for OBCs and address the issue of quota for Maratha and Dhangar communities in Maharashtra.
“Hon. Supreme Court has put a stay on OBC political reservation. Considering that the winter session of Parliament is underway, we demand that the Central Government bring a law, which should be debated during this session so that the Marathas and Dhangars To ensure reservation for communities as well as pending political reservation for OBCs. This decision will affect a large section of the society across India,” Sule said.
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