OBC quota in local body polls: Assembly passes 2 bills empowering Maharashtra govt

Two bills empowering the Maharashtra government to delimit wards and fix the number of ward members as well as making it mandatory for the state election commission to finalise the poll schedule after consulting the government were passed in the Assembly on Monday.

The MVA government introduced amendments to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act and the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats and Industrial Townships Act as well as the Maharashtra Village Panchayats and Zilla Parishads and Panchayat Samitis Act.

On March 3, the Supreme Court had rejected an interim report of the state backward commission recommending 27 per cent quota for OBCs in local bodies.


All parties in the state had then unanimously decided that polls to local bodies shouldn't be held till this quota was restored. It was also decided to adopt the Madhya Pradesh model to enact new legislation to empower the government to take a decision on holding local body polls.

The Maharashtra cabinet had approved the two bills on Friday and they were introduced in the Assembly for passage on Monday.