All-party meet: No local body polls in Maha till OBC data collected

An all-party meeting unanimously decided that local body polls be postponed till the state backward class commission compiles empirical data giving a clear picture on political backwardness of OBCs

An all-party meeting convened by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday unanimously decided that local body polls be postponed till the state backward class commission compiles empirical data giving a clear picture on political backwardness of OBCs, the government said.

A statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) after the meeting said empirical data was required to restore political reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local governing bodies in the state.

The statement said the meeting resolved to direct the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission (MSBCC) to compile relevant data on the OBCs and till the work is completed, local body polls be postponed. The commission will be directed to complete the data compilation work at the earliest, the CMO said. The Supreme Court earlier this year quashed quota for the OBCs in local bodies in Maharashtra after observing that the total reservation should not exceed 50 per cent. The apex court, while reading down section 12(2)(c) of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act, 1961 which provided 27 per cent quota for persons belonging to backward class, had also quashed notifications issued by the state election commission in 2018 and 2020 to the extent of providing reservation of seats in local bodies for OBC candidates.