Oppn stalls house; Maha govt to bring new law for OBC quota

Schedule the polls after the OBCs are provided with the quota, opposition demands, MVA agrees

The government and the opposition traded charges over the Supreme Court's rejection of the Other Backward Classes (OBC) quota in the local body polls on the second day of the Budget session. The government said it would make a law to enable itself to decide the election itinerary that the state election commission decides currently.

The suggestion to make a new law had come from the leader of opposition in the Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis. He said the Madhya Pradesh government faced the same issue. We could schedule the polls after the OBCs are provided with the quota, he said. 

Move after SC directive

The suggestion to make a new law had come from the leader of opposition in the Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis

The SC has directed the Maharashtra election commission to begin the election process without the 27 per cent OBC quota in the local bodies that are overdue for polls. By next week, 15 municipal corporations including Mumbai, and 25 zilla parishad will be overdue for elections and will have their political leadership replaced with administrators (commissioners and chief executive officers). Some local bodies are already working under administrators. The directive came after the SC found that the state's interim report was without empirical data, research and region-wise finding on the political backwardness of the OBCs. 

The blame game

Agreeing that there should be no polls without the quota, the MVA government and the BJP-led opposition continued to blame each other for the delay, which resulted in the disenchantment of the largest vote bank.

In the upper house, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said the state cabinet would meet Friday evening to approve an MP-like bill

Leader of opposition in the Assembly, Devendra Fadnavis launched a frontal attack on the government, quoting from the SC directive. He demanded that the day's scheduled business be kept aside, and instead, the quota issue be debated. Senior MVA minister Chhagan Bhujbal retaliated and blamed the Centre and the previous BJP government. 

The government hurried to transact some business amid slogans from the opposition benches. The proceedings were adjourned for the day soon. In the upper house, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar said the state cabinet would meet in the evening to approve an MP-like bill. “With this, the government can have the powers to decide the poll schedule. The bill will come up for the legislature's vote next week,” he said. The upper house too stopped working soon thereafter.

MVA members meet Governor

A delegation of MVA ministers met Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari a day after he had to leave without completing his address to the joint session of the legislature, which was marked by slogan shouting.  

However, the ministers did not confirm whether they expressed regrets for Thursday’s incident or tried rapprochement with the Raj Bhavan. They said they requested him to allow the Assembly to hold the Speaker’s election in the ongoing budget session. The government has already sent Raj Bhavan a letter on it. Koshyari had withheld his consent in December, saying he wanted to examine the legality of the rule that was amended for having a voice vote instead of a secret ballot.

Sources said the delegation also discussed the OBC quota issue which the state plans to resolve by making a new law and the Raj Bhavan’s delay in clearing 12 MLC nominations in the governor’s quota. The delegation included deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, ministers Ashok Chavan, and Eknath Shinde

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No. of corporations (civic) overdue for elections

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