MVA ministers, Opposition BJP urge Maharashtra Election Commission to postpone local polls

Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi government and the opposition BJP are on the same page with regard to the 'postponement' of the local body elections till the reservation issue for the Other Backward Classes is settled.

While the NCP minister Nawab Malik has warned of a law-and-order problem if the State Election Commission goes ahead with the elections without giving political reservations to the OBCs, BJP leader Pankaja Munde in a memorandum urged state election commissioner UPS Madan to 'defer the local body polls till empirical data for the OBCs is completed'.

"There can be a law-and-order issue in the state if you hold the (local body) elections without restoring the OBC reservation. In a democracy you cannot hold elections by showing guns and creating fear," said Malik.


Malik's comments came after another minister Vijay Wadettiwar said that the Maharashtra government has already written to the State Election Commission to postpone the local body polls.

With OBC population estimated to be more than 52% in the state, no political party can afford to alienate the community. The State commission has said that the elections for the local body seats initially meant for the OBC category - which will now be treated as general category seats - will be held on January 18. Experts have opined that polls cannot be postponed unless there is a national emergency.

The state government wants the polls to be postponed for at least three months so that it can come up with empirical data justifying political quota for OBCs. The SC had recently quashed the state's move to give 27% quota to OBCs in the local body polls.