Book By: The Hindu Editorial on OBC Quota in Madhya Pradesh Local Body Elections

Supreme Court gave permission to Madhya Pradesh To implement 14% reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC) and to inform about 23,263 local bodies elections within two weeks. On May 10, the court had ordered the state to hold elections without the OBC quota. The court has since convinced itself that the state has met the ‘triple test’ criterion established in 2010 for OBC reservation in local bodies – a commission that conducted a contemporary empirical inquiry into the nature and implications of backwardness in the context of local local bodies. Bodies, details of local body-wise reservation, and adherence to 50% cap on quota. Madhya Pradesh has already made reservations for women other than the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and its proposed quota for OBCs is 14%, which is within the 50% limit overall. The state has assured the court that it has indeed completed the triple test, but the validity and accuracy of the commission’s report is open to further judicial scrutiny. The Madhya Pradesh government and the Bharatiya Janata Party have welcomed the order, which they promote as their success; The opposition Congress has said that OBCs deserve 27% reservation, and blames the BJP government for failing to impress on the court, the quantity.

Madhya Pradesh and Odisha are also facing judicial scrutiny over their plans for OBC reservation in local bodies, and it remains a contentious question on which legislation is still evolving and public opinion is rife. The Court has held that the criteria for reservation in jobs and education, which is social and educational backwardness, need not be applied for reservation in local bodies. The backwardness to be set up for political reservation could be of a different nature, it was held. OBCs collectively make up more than half of India’s population and many communities want to be included in this category. The country’s politics between this section is largely disputed, and suggestions and demands are raised on a regular basis. There are demands for removal of the 50% cap on quotas, a caste-based census that the Center is opposing but for which there is growing noise, and reservations in the private sector. While quotas have proven to be an effective means of empowerment and justice, the competitive politics surrounding them often leads to the paralysis of politics and governance. Making the reservation system fair, objective and empirical is a major challenge of governance, and the efforts of the court in that direction are welcome. Political parties and governments should work closely with the judiciary so that the reservation program is not divisive but serves the purpose of development.