BHOPAL: Gradually realising that the planned review (modification) plea in the Supreme Court may not render desired results on the issue of OBC reservation in the upcoming local body elections, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has announced that the BJP will do justice to the backward castes by fielding over 27% OBC candidates in the polls.
"We're filing the review (modification) petition in the top court for which I held discussions with top advocates in New Delhi on Wednesday evening. The BJP is committed to furthering the interests of OBCs and will do justice to them by fielding more than 27% OBC candidates in the local body polls," Chouhan said at a meeting with top state party functionaries on Thursday.
On Wednesday, the state BJP chief VD Sharma too had indicated that the party will field much more than 27% OBC candidates in the local body polls, while on the other hand the state Congress chief and ex CM Kamal Nath too had announced that Congress would field 27% OBC candidates in the local body polls.
Meanwhile, in a related development on Thursday, the OBC Mahasabha (an outfit of OBCs) met in Gwalior and announced to hold state stir MP Bandh on May 21 on the failure of the state government to render 27% reservation to OBCs in local bodies.
"While the BJP which has been power for 17 out of the last 19 years is to be primarily blamed, particularly as it failed to put up the case of OBCs before the apex court strongly, the opposition Congress which too was in power for almost 15 months between December 2018 and March 2020 in MP cannot be spared as it did precious little over the issue during its rule," OBC Mahasabha founder Vijay Kumar told The New Indian Express.
In a related development, the MP State Election Commission (SEC), which has been directed by the SC on Tuesday to notify local body polls within two weeks, is preparing to hold urban local body polls in two phases through EVMs and the panchayat polls through ballot papers in three phases. Notification for the polls will be issued by May 24, while the entire poll process for 2300 local bodies is likely to be completed by June end, SEC sources confided.
On Tuesday, in a setback to the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government (which had sought 35% OBC reservation in local bodies) and also the opposition Congress (which had sought 27% OBC reservation), the Supreme Court's three-judge bench had directed the SEC to notify local body polls in MP within two weeks sans any reservation for OBCs, who form more than half of the state's population.
Importantly, OBCs are the biggest voting block in MP, which has had three OBC chief ministers in the last 19 years, including Uma Bharti, Babulal Gaur and present incumbent Shivraj Singh Chouhan (all from the BJP).
According to the recent reported submitted by the MP Backward Class Welfare Commission before the Supreme Court, the state houses maximum 48 percent OBC voters.
The maximum OBC population is housed in Gwalior-Chambal, Bundelkhand, Vindhya and Central MP regions.
Over 100 out of the total 230 assembly seats in the state have definitive share of OBC votes, which since 2003 has largely sided with the BJP, but in the 2018 polls, shifted in considerable numbers towards the Congress also.