MUMBAI: Even as all the political parties in the state had emphasised that no local body elections should take place without reservations for the Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Tuesday declared elections without the provision.
The SEC declared reservation of wards for women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and the general categories. Lottery for these reservations has been issued for the upcoming polls for Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Vasai, Virar, Nasik, Kalyan, Dombivali, Thane, and Kolhapur, among others.
As per the lottery drawn, 118 of the total 236 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) seats will be reserved for women. Eight of these seats are reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates, one seat for Scheduled Tribe candidates and 109 for the general category.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said Maharashtra government is committed for OBC reservations in local body elections.
“The state-appointed commission has been collecting the empirical data that will be submitted in Supreme Court, like Madhya Pradesh government did. Then the Supreme Court will also ask us to implement the OBC reservations in local body elections,” he said.
NCP chief Sharad Pawar had also said recently that without the implementation of OBC reservations, no local body elections will take place in Maharashtra.