A day after the Supreme Court of India asked the Maharashtra State Election Commission to declare the local body poll programme, the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ruling alliance held the view that the order has not asked for elections to be held immediately. The MVA retained the position that no elections could be held without Other Backward Class (OBC) reservation.
Senior Ministers of the State Cabinet on Thursday held a meeting with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on the possible outcome after the verdict. The Maharashtra Legislature has unanimously passed a Bill taking over the pre-poll processes from the State Election Commission, including formation of ward boundaries to buy more time to postpone the local body polls. Till that time, the State hopes to fulfil three conditions placed by the apex court while scrapping OBC reservation in local bodies.
“The court has neither scrapped this law nor is it stayed. But at the same time, directions are given to initiate the poll process for local bodies, where tenure is over. Now, how to interpret this? We discussed the issue, and [we are] also keeping an eye on further actions of the State Election Commission,” Vijay Wadettiwar, Maharashtra Minister of OBC Welfare, Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation, said.
“We have to follow the court order. But even the order does not clearly mention urgency to hold elections,” Mr. Wadettiwar said, adding that all leaders had agreed to not hold elections unless OBC reservation was restored.
“Around 30 Zilla Parishads and 15 Municipal Corporations are due for polls. Ideally, the period required for preparations of these polls is around one to two months. Can polls be held in monsoon?” Mr. Wadettiwar asked. He said that the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission, constituted in accordance with the Supreme Court’s directions, will be submitting its report in the next one or two months. “We will go to the court with that report,” he said.
After scrapping OBC reservation in December 2021, the apex court ordered a triple test requirement — a dedicated commission to be set up to conduct an empirical investigation to determine the backwardness of the community in local bodies; specifying the proportion of reservation needed for the local body; and that total reservation should not cross the 50% upper limit.
