Confusion about delimitation, OBC quota after SC orders local body polls

The SC’s oral directives have led to confusion on a slew of issues, including the OBC quota and the delimitation exercise

MUMBAI: Five days after the Supreme Court directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to hold the elections to 687 local bodies in the next four months and notify the process in four weeks, the poll body has not started the process for want of a written order from the court. The SC’s oral directives have led to confusion on a slew of issues, including the OBC quota and the delimitation exercise (revision in the number of wards).

New Delhi, July 06 (ANI): A view of the Supreme Court of India building, an apex judicial body of the country, in New Delhi on Thursday. (ANI Photo/Jitender Gupta) (Jitender Gupta)

The two-judge bench in its order had allowed the SEC to seek more time in appropriate cases. It also stated that reservation for OBC candidates in the elections would be as it existed before the submission of the J K Banthia Commission report in 2022—a flat 27%.

“There is a need for greater clarity on many contentious issues, and the biggest among them is the OBC quota,” said an official from the urban development department which governs urban local bodies. “The apex court has orally stated that the OBC reservation will be what it was prior to the Banthia Commission report. However, this is contrary to its previous order of March 4, 2021, mandating that the OBC quota could not be implemented until the triple test was completed by the state government.”

According to an OBC leader, “the claims by some OBC organisations that 34,000 seats, reduced due to the admission of the Banthia Commission report, will be restored after Tuesday’s order, are not true in the absence of the formal order.”

Like the OBC quota, confusion prevails over an amendment by the previous government, which took away the SEC’s power to form wards. “It has been challenged in the court, and there is no clarity on whether the delimitation and formation of wards has to be done by the SEC, as the SC has asked, or by the government,” said another Mantralaya officer.

The Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government in 2021 had increased the number of wards in municipal corporations and district councils based on the projected population. In August 2022, the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government reversed the decision. The SEC is in doubt about which number to follow while conducting the elections.

All these issues have been challenged in the SC by 22 petitioners, leaving 687 urban and rural local bodies without local body elections and in the hands of bureaucrats for years.

Another SEC official said that the commission had several tasks to complete before the elections. “On the notification front, we have to notify the process of ward formation, reservation and announcement of the electoral rolls,” he said. “The entire process of preparing for the elections will take around three months, a part of which is hearing suggestions/objections from voters and stakeholders. However, we need clarity on certain issues raised through the 22 petitions that are being heard in the SC.”

State election commissioner Dinesh Waghmare said, “We are still waiting for the Supreme Court order and will begin preparations for the elections after we receive it and study it.”