On Monday, the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government will introduce two bills to address the OBC Quota

The Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi administration would introduce a measure similar to the Madhya Pradesh Act, ensuring that no elections to the 15 Municipal Corporations, 25 Zilla Parishads, and 232 Nagar Parishads may be held without the OBC population receiving a 27 percent reservation.

 

The state cabinet approved the filing of two bills to amend the Maharashtra Gram Panchayat Act 1959, the Maharashtra Zilla Parishad & Panchayat Samiti Act, 1961, and the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, and the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act and Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, a day after the Supreme Court rejected the interim report of the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission (MSBCC) recommending the restoration of 27%.

 

The State Election Commission (SEC) will retain its election-scheduling authority. Elections, on the other hand, cannot take place unless the state government decides on ward delimitation and the number of members of civic and local authorities. The state government's action is critical, especially since the SEC is awaiting reports on ward delimitation from 15 Municipal Corporations. The SEC was intended to announce the poll timetable only after examining these reports.

 

The government's action is especially significant in light of the fact that elections to 15 Municipal Corporations, including Mumbai, 25 Zilla Parishads, and 232 Municipal Councils are scheduled for this year. Importantly, both the government and opposition parties have stated that elections will not take place unless the OBC reservation is implemented. This is to ensure that the OBCs are not denied the opportunity to vote in the election.

 

The state government's stance is also significant since no party can afford to hold elections without OBC reservation because it will cost them politically. Earlier, in the state council, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar stated that the state cabinet would approve the bills modelled after the Madhya Pradesh Act and table them in the state legislature on Monday, reiterating that the government was committed to restoring the OBC quota abolished by the Supreme Court last year.

 

 

According to the Madhya Pradesh Act, the SEC retains its authority in terms of declaring the election calendar, but the state government retains control over ward delimitation and related concerns. Pawar urged the opposition to avoid politicising the matter and stated that the administration was not operating under any pressure and would not cave to it. Pawar stated that the state government had already granted funds to the MSBCC for the collection of empirical data on OBCs, and that it would be completed in the format required.

 

 

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