Row after SEC tells collectors to remove OBC quota in Gujarat gram panchayat polls

As per the provisions of the Gujarat Panchayats Act, Gujarat has 10 per cent reservation for OBC communities in the elections of gram panchayats. The SEC Secretary also mentioned that this was in view of the order of the Supreme Court dated May 10, 2022.

In the said order on elections of local bodies in Madhya Pradesh, the apex court had stated, “For, until the triple test formality is completed ‘in all respects’ by the State Government, no reservation for Other Backward Classes can be provisioned; and if that exercise cannot be completed before the issue of election programme by the State Election Commission, the seats (except reserved for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes which is a constitutional requirement), the rest of the seats must be notified as for the General Category.”

The “triple test formality” mentioned by the SC as a precondition to make reservation for OBCs in gram panchayats includes setting up of a “dedicated commission to conduct contemporaneous rigorous empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness qua the local bodies” and specifying the “proportion of reservation required to be provisioned local body wise in light of the recommendations of the Commission”. The apex court had ordered to make the order applicable to all the states.

Brahmbhatt could not be reached for his comments despite repeated attempts.

Meanwhile, since the SEC has instructed district collectors to convert OBC reserved seats into general or open competition category in gram panchayats where elections are due, opposition Congress has said the ruling BJP was doing injustice to the OBC communities in the state.

Senior Congress legislator from Anklav constituency and former president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC), Amit Chavda, has written to the Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, saying that despite passage of six months of the SC order to set precondition of OBC Commission’s inquiry report to give reservation benefits to the OBC communities in gram panchayats, the state government has done no procedure. He has asked the CM to do the needful to ensure that the OBC communities get the reservation in gram panchayats and to postpone the elections till then.

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GPCC president Jagdish Thakor accused the BJP of conspiring to finish the reservation of OBC in local body polls.

“Towards the end of 2021, a petition was filed in the Supreme Court regarding OBC reservation in the local body polls of Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. The Supreme Court, on January 19, 2022, ordered all states to create a commission to conduct an inquiry upon the proportion of OBC reservations required, the number of seats, in proportion to the local population. However, six months after the Supreme Court order, the Gujarat government has still not come up with any commission and this will affect the OBC population of Gujarat which forms 52 per cent of the total,” said Thakor.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat BJP has also issued a statement on the issue while expressing the party’s commitment towards the rights and reservation of OBC communities.

The statement issued by Gujarat BJP’s media convener Yagnesh Dave said, “The Gujarat State Election Commission has taken up the procedure to hold elections in the remaining 3,252 gram panchayats of the state in haste without reviewing while keeping in mind the order of Supreme Court… In those elections, the SEC has suggested to convert the OBC seats into general seats.”

Dave added in the statement that the act of SEC — an autonomous body — to remove reservation for OBCs in gram panchayats does not make any difference to BJP’s commitment towards reservation for the OBC communities. He also stated that the BJP would resort to legal remedy if necessary.

Minister of State for Panchayat (independent charge) Brijesh Merja could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

(With inputs from ENS, Ahmedabad)