Though the supreme court’s (SC) order to the State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday to notify elections to over 2,400 local bodies, including Mumbai, without political quota for the other backward classes (OBCs) came as a jolt to the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the actual polling may not be conducted for at least three months.
With a perception that it failed to safeguard the interests of the OBCs — who form the largest demographic bloc in the state — the MVA may have to face the ire of these communities. These will be the first large-scale elections after the MVA government under Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray came to power in November 2019.
Leaders of the MVA said they would examine the order before deciding on the future course of action. Thackeray will chair a meeting on Thursday to discuss the impact of the ruling and examine the possible legal remedies.
SEC officials said the SC had directed them to continue the process of demarcation of ward boundaries from where they left it after the state government on March 11 amended the laws to take away their powers of delimitation.
“The process of elections referred to by the SC includes the demarcation of ward boundaries. The remaining process of the delimitation will take two to three months and this has been submitted on record in the apex court by us. So, to begin the process does not mean the voting process, but the conduct of elections. We will immediately resume the remaining process. Similarly, we have apprised the SC that the elections cannot be held during monsoon as in some parts, including Mumbai and Vidarbha, it rains heavily in July and August,” said Kiran Kurundkar, secretary, SEC.
An official from the general administration department said the elections would unlikely be held for at least three more months even if the SC order was implemented in letter and spirit. “The demarcation of the ward boundaries will take two to three months, stretching it to July, after which the actual conduct of the voting could be considered. The SEC’s contention that the elections could not be held during the monsoon will have to be taken into consideration by the SC as the elections are never held in the rainy season in the state history. Secondly, if the court considers the window period of six months from the expiry of the term of the local bodies, the elections can be held in September as the term of most of the bodies ended in March this year,” he said.
Twenty municipal corporations, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and the civic bodies in Pune, Thane, Nagpur, and Navi Mumbai, 25 district councils, 285 panchayat samitis, 210 nagar panchayats, and more than 2000 gram panchayats are either due or going to be due for polls in the next couple of months.
“We have completed the delimitation for 14 municipal corporations, but the process for the remaining six which are due for elections in the next few months is yet to begin. Similarly, the notification to begin the process for the district councils and panchayat samitis has not been issued as the government framed rules just by the end of February. For 210 urban local bodies we published the draft and suggestions, objections were called for when we stopped the process. Even after completing the delimitation, the reservation draw takes a couple of weeks, followed by splitting of the electoral roll and inviting suggestions and objections which need another two-three weeks,” Kurundkar said.
Revenue minister and Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat said, “The SC has given its ruling and things will be clearer after reading the order. But the monsoon is a hurdle. Holding the elections in the Konkan and in the districts on the Deccan plateau will be impossible during the rains. Agricultural activities will also begin and farmers will be busy. Then, how can the elections be held? The SEC has the authority over this, and it will take an appropriate decision.”
He denied the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) charge that the state government had not passed the triple test to ensure that the political quota for OBCs stood the test of law, and thus hurt their interests.
Senior leaders of the MVA and the state cabinet would decide on filing a review petition, Thorat said. “The MVA is always ready to fight elections… we will fight the polls together. Our motto is to keep BJP away from power.”
Vijay Wadettiwar, minister for Bahujan welfare, hinted that BJP was responsible for the legal challenges to the state government’s moves on the issue. He said a six-member dedicated commission under former chief secretary Jayant Kumar Banthia was collecting empirical data about the backwardness of the OBCs, which would be submitted in the court.
Water resources minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Jayant Patil said the MVA government was trying to ensure that the elections were not held without reservation. His party colleague and civil supplies minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who is a leader of the OBCs, said, “We are speaking to our lawyers. The state government will study the order and take further steps.”
“If the [SC] order has come then we will start work on it. We are always ready [for elections], no matter when the dates are announced,” Sena MP and chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said.
The opposition BJP tore into the MVA.
Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said the ruling coalition had backstabbed the OBCs. “The reservation has been struck down because of the inefficiency of the state government and its failure to comply with the mandate of the empirical data. There was ample time since the first ruling on March 4, 2021, but the MVA government failed to take the required steps. However, BJP will ensure 27% tickets to the OBCs in the forthcoming local body elections.”
Leader of opposition Devendra Fadnavis said, “The state failed to comply with the triple test even two years after the court verdict. The apex court has passed strictures against the MVA government over its failure to submit the empirical data. It is an irreparable loss to the OBCs and the government will have to take the responsibility.”
Sachin Rajurkar, general secretary, national OBC federation, said, “The OBCs have lost the reservation because of the inefficiency of the state government. The government took four months to appoint the commission to collate empirical data after the apex court struck down the quota in March 2021. The state submitted the data related to educational and financial backwardness through interim report in response to the SC’s order to submit the empirical data. Every step taken by the state government failed.”
Though the Marathas dominate Maharashtra’s politics, the OBCs, who are spread across religions, classes and castes, are considered the largest social bloc at around 53% of the population. Though some estimates peg their population lower, there is no scientific measurement of caste numbers in Maharashtra, with the last caste-based census having taken place in 1931 in British India.