New Delhi:
Law Minister Salman Khurshid has replied to the Election Commission's notice on his announcement this week that in Uttar Pradesh, sub-quota for Muslims would be doubled to 9% for state government jobs and colleges.
NDTV has learnt that Mr Khurshid, in his reply, said that minority quota exists in Congress manifesto released in 2009 for the Lok Sabha polls and that he has only quoted the manifesto.
The Law Minister said that he only used the word 'minority' and did not specify any caste or community so the statement does not directly violate any provisions contained in the poll code.
The Congress leader also said that the actual election process has not started in Uttar Pradesh and that there is no declared candidate or party candidate so there is no violation of the model code; it was only a general statement was given at the rally, the minister is said to have written in his reply.
The Election Commission (EC) had asked the Centre to wait to implement its sub-quota of 4.5% for minorities within the existing 27% quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in government jobs and universities till the state elections are completed.
Late last month, just before elections were announced for five states including Uttar Pradesh, the Cabinet approved the carving out of the sub-quota for minorities. The government clearly wanted to appeal to voters, especially in UP, before the model code of conduct kicked in.
The Election Commission said that the quota policy would deprive other parties of a level-playing field as they contest state elections.
Welcoming the EC's directive, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar had said, "What Congress was doing was crass vote bank politics... it has been exposed by the Election Commission... it is trying to trigger fight between minorities and other OBCs."