The uncertainties in the holding of elections to the three-tier panchayati raj institutions (PRI) as well as urban local bodies scheduled next year is likely to be over after the Odisha Assembly on Tuesday passed an amendment to limit the reservation at 50 per cent, a necessity in the light of a 2010 judgement of Supreme Court and 2018 order of Orissa High Court.
The Assembly passed the amendments proposed to Odisha Municipal Act, 1950 and Odisha Municipal Corporation Act, 2003 while it is likely to pass similar amendments to Odisha Gram Panchayats Act, 1964, Odisha Panchayat Samiti Act, 1959 and Odisha Zilla Parishad Act, 1991.
Odisha law minister Pratap Jena, who tabled the amendments, said at every level of PRIs, reservations of the seat for SC and ST have been made in conformity with provisions of Article 243-D of the Constitution of India.
“The principle for reservations has been decided in the case of K Krishna Murthy versus Union of India where the apex court ruled that that total quantum of reservation should not exceed 50 per cent,” he said.
In previous panchayat and urban body elections, the reservations were exceeding more than 50 per cent at many places due to 27 per cent reservation given to other backward caste candidates. This was challenged in Orissa High Court.
In 2018, the HC said if the state government breached the upper limit of 50 per cent in the reservations, it would be unconstitutional. Though the judgment was challenged by the Odisha government in the Supreme Court, the apex court dismissed the special leave petition. This is the reason the government wants to amend existing laws,” said Jena.
{{/usCountry}}In 2018, the HC said if the state government breached the upper limit of 50 per cent in the reservations, it would be unconstitutional. Though the judgment was challenged by the Odisha government in the Supreme Court, the apex court dismissed the special leave petition. This is the reason the government wants to amend existing laws,” said Jena.
{{/usCountry}}The panchayat polls in Odisha are due in February 2022 while the polls to urban bodies are due for the last 2 years.
In every panchayat and municipality, the number of seats for scheduled tribes and scheduled castes is 22.5 and 16.25 per cent of the total seats respectively. As per the SC, Odisha can thus reserve 11.25 per cent seats for OBCs/SEBCs so as not to breach the 50 per cent mark. In earlier elections, the state government reserved 27 per cent of the seats on offer for OBCs/SEBCs which breached the 50 per cent cap.
However, to get around the cap on reservation imposed by SC, last month Odisha chief minister and the Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik said that his party will field candidates from Other Backward Castes (OBC) for 27 per cent of seats in the panchayat elections.
The decision to give tickets to OBC candidates in at least 27 per cent of seats is a repeat of the party’s strategy of giving 33 per cent of the tickets to women in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. In 2019, the party demanded that a law be passed in Parliament reserving one-third of the seats in Lok Sabha for women. It later gave tickets to 7 women out of the 21 Lok Sabha seats that went to polls.