There will be no OBC quota in the pending local bodies’ polls in Madhya Pradesh. In a major development, the Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission to notify polls in 23,000 odd local governance bodies in the state within two weeks without waiting for compliance of ‘triple-test’ or fresh delimitation of seats.
The SC said that local bodies should have newly elected members before five years (tenure) ends, incumbents cannot continue for over six months beyond tenure. This constitutional provision is inviolable, it said in the order.
The apex court bench headed by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar said that it did not ‘intend to examine or comment upon the report of MP Backward Class Welfare Commission, presented in the court on May 6, but noted that the report ‘by itself is not triple test compliance.’
The commission report had put the proportion of OBC voters in Madhya Pradesh at 48 per cent and recommended a 35 per cent quota for them in the local bodies’ polls. After submission of this report, SC had reserved orders for Tuesday.
The bench through an interim order on Tuesday directed the SEC to issue poll notification as per existing wards (seat delimitation) and said that there was no need to wait for triple test compliance.
It also added that there was no need for the provision of the OBC quota as of now in the poll notification. The court said that the pro-OBC parties were free to nominate OBC candidates for general category seats.
“Process of delimitation and triple test compliance is complex, time-consuming but the conduct of new polls is explicitly provided for. Former need not detain pending polls,” the bench ordered.
The apex court also made it clear that the SEC should implement this interim order ‘uninfluenced by any other fora’ and added that all steps (regarding local bodies’ polls) will be subject to the outcome of (the ongoing) proceedings of the court on the issue of OBC quota. The bench also ordered that if the ‘triple-test’ was not complied with in due course; SEC will go by existing seats in other upcoming polls.
MP govt to file a review petition
Reacting to the SC order, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the order had been just pronounced and it has not been studied yet. “However, we will file a review petition (in the Supreme Court) and again request that the local bodies’ polls are held with OBC quota,” Chouhan said.
Ex-chief minister and MP Congress chief Kamal Nath while attacking the BJP government in the state for conspiring against the enhanced OBC quota implementation said that the Congress was committed to ensuring that the OBC people should get the benefit of enhanced reservation. “There should not be panchayat and local bodies polls in MP without OBC quota. We are with the OBC people and we will not remain silent. We will study today’s SC order, and have discussions with legal experts. We will fight from street to Assembly in this matter,” Nath tweeted.
He added that despite the SC order, the BJP government presented half-baked information on the OBC quota in the court and failed to put up the side of the government strongly.
The complex issue
The issue of OBC quota in local bodies polls has been hanging fire for a long time in the state. Elections to 23,263 three-tier panchayat bodies and 321 urban local bodies are pending in the state for around two years.
In December 2021 led the MP government deferred the panchayat polls scheduled for January-February, 2022 after SC ordered a stay on elections to OBC quota seats. At the same time, due to political uproar, a resolution was passed in the State Assembly that no local bodies’ polls will be held without an OBC quota. Later in January 2022, SC made it clear that no OBC quota would be allowed if states did not fulfil the ‘triple-test’ norms.
The ‘triple-test’ norms were laid down by the SC in its March 4, 2021, judgment in the case of Vikas Gawali versus the State of Maharashtra. The triple tests call for setting up a dedicated commission that will conduct a rigorous inquiry into the nature and implication of backwardness local body-wise. The inquiry would specify the proportion of reservation to be provided local body-wise based on the recommendations of the said commission “so as not to fall foul of overbreadth” and to ensure that in any case, such reservation to (OBCs) did not exceed the aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved for SCs/STs/OBCs.
The Madhya Pradesh government started gathering data on OBC voters through the State OBC welfare commission following this stalemate. On May 6, the commission presented a report to SC mentioning 48 pc OBC voters and recommending a 35 pc quota for them.
However, both this recommendation as well as the 27 per cent OBC quota earlier promised by the BJP government, violate the final triple-test norm of the quota for OBCs not exceeding the aggregate of 50 per cent of the total seats reserved for SC/ST/OBCs.
The ST and SC population get 20 per cent and 16 per cent reservation in Madhya Pradesh in various levels of elections and thus there remains the possibility of only a 14 per cent quota for the OBCs, experts say. The only other way is to get the enhanced quota for OBCs included in the 9th schedule of the constitution, to give it validity. This is one of the recommendations made by the OBC panel report.
