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Karnataka government to wait for Supreme Court order on urban local body elections
JC Madhuswamy, Karnataka minister for law, parliamentary affairs and minor irrigation, said there was confusion on how to determine political backwardness as the state, since 1986, was following parameters of social, economic and education to determine reservations.
The Karnataka government on Friday said a decision to hold urban local body polls in the state will depend on an order from the Supreme Court that is hearing a case related to political reservations.
JC Madhuswamy, Karnataka minister for law, parliamentary affairs and minor irrigation, said there was confusion on how to determine political backwardness as the state, since 1986, was following parameters of social, economic and education to determine reservations.
“From 1986, socio-economic and education were factors to determine backwardness. But following the decision of the SC, only political data on empirical data has to be identified and submitted before the court,” Madhuswamy said.
He said the apex court has not given guidelines on how to go about it and the state was awaiting further orders from the court to go ahead with the much-delayed elections.
“Now, unit wise data on political backwardness has to be submitted before the SC and if that does not come, you (states) consider all other constituencies except SC/ST and general categories, mandated through the constitution and conduct the elections. But the problem here (in Karnataka) is that we have been practising (backward reservations) since 1986,” he added.
The statements come a day after the Justice Bhakthavatsalya commission submitted its report to the state government, in which it identified several castes and communities were “socially and politically backward”.
Madhuswamy said the commission’s report has gone before the SC that had earlier given the state a maximum of three months to complete the report on political backwardness. He said since the date of SC hearing was closing in, the commission submitted its report but it was not a “100% acceptable”.
“If the apex court considers this, then we have to go in for elections. But if they give us more time, we will try and get some more time and do the needful,” he added.
On May 8, the Karnataka government had set up the Justice Bhakthavatsalya commission to study political reservations.
On the reservation in Bengaluru, Madhuswamy said if the city’s population was considered then the OBC reservation can go up to 35-36% but if the state government was forced to follow the state average (reservation based on population), then this might come down to 31%. “In Bengaluru city, we need not go at any point for SC/ST reservation, it is not 18% but around 13%. The state average is 18.4% but in Bengaluru it won’t cross 13%,” he said.
The BJP-led state government has been accused of delaying the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP, the city’s civic body) elections and the polls for Zilla and taluka panchayat as any upset in these local bodies is likely to have a bearing on next year’s assembly elections, people aware of the development said. The BBMP has been without an elected council since September 2020.
The commission also recommended that the term of the office of Mayor and his deputy be amended to 30 months from the existing 12 months.
