Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil on Thursday said that the party would not let the state government conduct local body elections until the issue of OBC reservation is resolved.
In March this year, the Supreme Court had said that reservation in favour of Other Backward Classes (OBS) in concerned local bodies in the state cannot exceed aggregate 50 per cent of the total seats reserved for Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and OBCs taken together.
The top court, while reading down section 12(2)(c) of the Maharashtra Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act 1961 which provided 27 per cent reservation for persons belonging to backward class, also quashed the notifications issued by the state election commission in 2018 and 2020 providing reservation exceeding 50 per cent in local bodies of some districts.
"The BJP's state unit will not let the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government conduct any local body elections until the issue of OBC reservation is resolved. It is this government's deeds that the OBC community lost the political reservation," Mr Patil said while speaking to reporters
The state election commission (SEC) had last month deferred the scheduled bypolls to local bodies in the state, which had been announced earlier in keeping with Supreme Court directives without an OBC quota.
After the Supreme Court directed that by-polls for seats meant for OBC candidates should be filled with candidates from the open category, the SEC had said the bypolls in five zilla parishads and 33 municipal councils would be held on July 19.
The state government had written twice to the SEC, requesting it to postpone the bypolls in view of the pandemic and the possible third wave.
Maharashtra BJP Chief's Big Dare To Opposition Over Maratha Reservations Telangana Plans To Increase Backward Class Quota For Local Body Polls No Injustice Will Be Done To OBCs While Giving Quota To Marathas: Eknath Shinde Parents Gave Names Of Interns, Doctors To CBI In Kolkata Horror: Sources How Extreme Weather Is Leading To Rise In Child Marriages In Pakistan Mob Sets Cars On Fire After 15-Year-Old Stabbed Inside Udaipur School US Warns Iran Faces "Cataclysmic" Consequences If It Strikes Israel 20 Coaches Of Sabarmati Express Train Derail In UP, No Casualties Two Sisters Returning From Court Run Over By Car In UP: Cops Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.