AHMEDABAD: Bhupendra Patel-led Gujarat government on Tuesday announced 27 per cent reservation for OBCs in elections to local self-governance institutes while maintaining quotas for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. Earlier, only 10 per cent of seats in local bodies such as village panchayats and municipalities were reserved for OBC candidates. Complying with the directive of the Supreme Court, the state had constitutued Justice KS Zaveri Commission fix reservations for OBC communities in the local bodies. The commission submitted its report to the government in April this year.
The commission report was placed before the cabinet meeting on Tuesday and 27 per cent OBC reservation was announced soon after the cabinet meeting. The five-year tenure of 7,100-gram panchayats, 75 Nagar Palikas, two district panchayats and 19 taluka panchayats has ended. The State Election Commission has appointed administrators to oversee the work of these bodies. Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel at a press conference at the BJP office in Gandhinagar said: “Today, the Gujarat government has decided to make 27 per cent reservation for the OBC community, and it has been kept in mind that no other caste will be affected by this decision.”
The OBC community is about 52 per cent of the population in Gujarat, while there are more than 146 castes classified in OBC in Gujarat, and now more than 50 MLAs in BJP belong to the OBC community, this decision has been made with careful care to guarantee that SC/ ST reservation does not suffer any harm, BJP state oresident CR Patil said.
“The commission recommended a 27 per cent OBC reservation which will be applicable only in local self-government elections, village panchayat, taluka panchayat, district panchayat municipality and municipality; assembly and Lok Sabha seats will remain unchanged,” he added. The commission report, which determines the amount of quota for the backward communities in local body elections, has caused a political uproar in Gujarat for over a year.