Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar told the state assembly that they are firm on postponing the elections for local bodies till the 27% quota is restored
MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government is planning to introduce a bill in the Assembly on Monday to seek powers from the State Election Commission (SEC) to delimit and constitute wards, while the empirical data required for restoration of the former Other Backward Classes (OBCs) collects. ) quota for local elections.
Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar told the state assembly that he was adamant on postponing the elections to local bodies till the 27% reservation is restored. He said that this law would be brought on the lines of Madhya Pradesh.
“We will hold a cabinet meeting today [Friday] evening and adopt measures like Madhya Pradesh… We will prepare a bill on the lines of Madhya Pradesh so that we can see for ourselves the delimitation and formation of wards. We will place it before both the Houses on Monday and will approve it. Till then we will prepare empirical data and only then we will conduct elections by giving representation to OBCs.
The remarks came a day after the Supreme Court on Thursday directed the SEC to go ahead with elections to local bodies without the 27% OBC quota. It cited "lack of logic" and "absence of contemporary data" to dismiss an interim report of the State Backward Commission recommending the quota.
The court criticized the report, saying it lacked logic. It said the report explicitly acknowledged the authenticity of certain figures only because Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was present at the meeting when it was submitted to the commission in January. The court restrained the authorities from acting on the report. It directed the commission to continue its study on contemporary data and submit its report on the basis of judicial enquiry.
The court had earlier struck down the ordinance for 27% reservation for OBCs in local body elections.
The state government cited the report and last week urged the court to reserve seats for OBCs. The quota was put on hold in December in the absence of the commission's recommendation.
Leader of Opposition in the State Legislative Council Pravin Darekar hit out at the government for failing to secure quotas for the numerically important and politically important community. “The state government wasted a year in blaming the Centre. He had a year to prepare the empirical data but failed to do so. The government is not serious about the OBC political quota. There is a lot of resentment in the society due to the negligence of the government. Maharashtra has a large OBC population. What is the government's plan?"
Pawar insisted that there was no negligence on the part of the government as it has the best legal mind for the matter.
The Legislative Council was once adjourned on the opposition's demand to adjourn the day's business for a debate on the quota issue.