Nagpur: The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the three-tiered Maharashtra government to declare a schedule for local body elections within two weeks.
The top court also said that it will decide on the issue pertaining to reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) in the elections after the polling process takes place. This development comes after it declined to accept the Maharashtra State Backward Class Commission’s recommendation to restore 27 per cent for the OBC.
The court had also ordered the State Election Commission to avoid acting on the recommendation and to notify the poll process without any delay while keeping all the proposed OBC-reserved seats in the general category.
Earlier, as per reports, municipal corporations including Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nashik were set to be delayed till the end of September. The state election commission submitted an affidavit to the top court stating that the time taken to prepare for the polls will stretch till June, by the time monsoon would begin.
SEC secretary Kiran Kurundkar said, “Even if the SC directs that the polls be held immediately, it will take over a month for the civic bodies to get the delimitation and ward formation approved. Voter lists will also have to be finalized.”
