As SC Stays OBC Reservation in Panchayat Polls, BJP and Congress Attack Each Other in Madhya Pradesh

A dominant force when it comes to any polls with a 50% share in state population, OBCs are back to helm political space in Madhya Pradesh over Panchayat Polls, weeks after when the 27% OBC quota issue had landed in the High Court.

Even three days have passed since Supreme Court had stayed OBC quota for panchayat polls in Madhya Pradesh but nothing concrete has emerged from the state government side which is required to furnish a reply to the State Election Commission on the OBC reservation issue by December 25.

As both the BJP and Congress have accused each other of being anti-OBC, former Chief Minister Uma Bharti also jumped into the fray on Monday putting forward her displeasure over OBCs almost pushed out of reservation scenario in the panchayat polls.

Legal stay on OBC reservation in panchayat polls is a cause of concern, tweeted Bharti saying in the second tweet that she spoke to CM Shivraj on Monday morning, letting him know that panchayat polls without reservation to OBCs will be an injustice to the 70% population.

Both Bharti and Chouhan hail to this category which holds crucial importance in local body polls as well as assembly polls in 2023.

Three phased panchayat polls are due in the state on January 6, 28 and February 16, next year as announced by the SEC recently.

Early on the day, as the winter session of the MP assembly commenced, BJP and Congress assaulted each other for being responsible for the situation.

Speaking to the reporters, Home Minister Narottam Mishra blamed the Congress party for the mess saying had then not gone to SC, the situation wouldn’t have arisen. This has exposed double standards of the Congress party which talks of OBC quota and opposes the community inside the court.

Leader of Opposition Kamal Nath said, “No rotation, no delimitation and no reservation, this is Bharatiya Janata Party.” Nothing is under the rug and their inner voice has been bared, added the senior leader who seemed to enjoy the mess the Shivraj government has landed on the OBC issue.

Kunal Chauhdary, the Congress MLA speaking to the media inside the assembly media room tried underlining contradictions in caste-based reservation percentage in proportion to the population of various categories. A 16% SC population has 15% reservation, 21% STs have 20% reservation, while 13% generals have also 10% reservation under EWS but policies were chalked out for OBC with 14% reservation as against 54% population.

And when the 27% quota was introduced (by then Kamal Nath govt), the Shivraj govt did not pursue the matter properly in the HC. “The matter of reservation got vexed in the court after the BJP government instead of sticking to 2019 rotation and reservation opted to hold the panchayat polls as per 2014 rules,” claimed Chaudhary.

Officers in the SEC off the record claimed that in the present arrangement, around 60% of seats are reserved for various categories in panchayat polls which make total reservation exceeding the constitutional limit of 50%. SC earlier had stayed OBC reservation in local body polls in Maharashtra on similar lines and cited the Maharashtra judgement in MP’s case as well.

SC stay

With barely a few weeks remaining for the first phase of panchayat polls, the SC had on December c 18 stayed polling in all OBC–reserved seats and asked SEC to re-notify these seats under the General category which meant that there won’t be any reservation for 54% OBC population in panchayat polls this time.

Earlier Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vivek Tankha and spokesperson Syyed Zafar had moved the SC alleging that the MP government had violated constitutional provisions on reservation rotation and delimitation in panchayat polls. Asking SEC to function within the legal limits, the SC had threatened that the panchayat polls can be quashed in case legal procedure isn’t followed.

Shivraj calls urgent meet on the issue

CM Shivraj has convened a high-level meeting in Bhopal on Monday to discuss the matter before a reply is sent to the SEC. The meet is expected to be attended by Advocate General Prashant Singh, Principal Secretary Law Gopal Shrivastava, Home minister Narottam Mishra and Urban Administration and Housing Minister Bhupendra Singh.

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