No reservation in elections without adequate empirical data, says Supreme Court

No reservation of any sort will be provided in elections without adequate empirical data warranting such reservations, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday, while allowing municipal polls without seats reserved for OBC candidates to be held in Maharashtra for now.

SC had earlier laid down a three-pronged test to decide quota. This included a mandate to the state to set up a commission to examine data for itself to check if it was needed and the extent of reservations. Reservations are usually proportionate to the population. The SC has enforced the three-prong test laid down in a 2010 ruling in recent years.

The Maharashtra government had promulgated an ordinance for OBC quota after SC held that total reservations cannot exceed 50%. The state appealed against and received an unfavourable verdict from a bench comprising Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar. The state's case was represented by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi.


SC had earlier stayed the local elections and demanded data showing due diligence required of the state to necessitate such reservations. It said that it would further examine legality of the step on January 1, but for now allowed elections to be held without reservations for OBCs.

Senior advocate Dushyant Dave, appearing for a candidate interested in contesting from Gondia Zilla Parishad, opposed the move to hold polls without reservations. Why should candidates of the category suffer for the fault of the state and the central governments, he demanded.