Bengaluru: The State BJP Government is all likely not to hold Municipal polls for Bengaluru, Taluk and Zilla Panchayats before its tenure ends citing lack of data for reservations for Other Backward Castes (OBC) as per Supreme Court.
Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K. S. Eshwarappa had stated in the Assembly last week that he was not in support of conducting polls if it causes injustice to the OBC communities. He had that in Maharashtra, the election was conducted on the basis of existing reservations including OBC reservations, which was challenged in the Supreme Court. Subsequently, the order issued on January 19 stated that it was wrong to reserve seats for OBCs as reservations should have been made only for the SC/ST categories. The court declared OBC seats as general seats, he informed.
Minister had asserted that as he was in favour of reservation for OBCs in the local polls, in a few days after discussing with Backward Classes Commission Chairman, we will hold discussions with legal experts before final decision.
It can be noted here that in the State, local polls have been always held with 33 per cent reservation for OBCs and 18 per cent for SC/STs. Meanwhile Congress has been demanding that the BJP use data from a caste census conducted by the Kantharaj Commission and the State Backward Classes Commission during Congress’ tenure between 2013 – 2018 to conduct local polls with OBC quota.
