The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) to notify local body elections in the state within four weeks, marking a crucial step forward in the long-pending electoral process stalled over the contentious issue of OBC reservation.
A bench comprising Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh made it clear that the status of Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservation in local body polls will remain as it existed prior to the 2022 Banthia Commission report. The bench accepted the Banthia Commission’s recommendations for a caste-based census to determine accurate OBC data and proposed reserving 27% seats for the category in local polls, but affirmed that the implementation must comply with established legal principles.
The court fixed a four-month timeline for concluding the polls and allowed the SEC to seek additional time in suitable cases. However, it emphasized that the final outcome of the elections would be subject to adjudication of pending petitions before the apex court.
The directive comes in the backdrop of earlier orders where the Supreme Court had halted the electoral process for 367 local bodies—including 92 municipal councils and four nagar panchayats—over non-compliance with the “triple test” required for implementing OBC reservations in local bodies. The triple test, laid down in a 2010 judgment, mandates:
- Establishment of a dedicated commission to collect empirical data on the backwardness of OBCs,
- Determination of reservation quota based on that data for each local body, and
- Ensuring total reservation for SCs, STs, and OBCs does not exceed 50%.
In July 2022, the top court had warned of contempt proceedings if the SEC re-notified elections with OBC quotas before completing the triple test. It had also quashed the state’s earlier attempt to provide 27% OBC quota through an ordinance and SEC notification in 2021.
While the state government had moved the top court seeking recall or modification of its earlier order to facilitate OBC reservations, today’s ruling reiterates that until full compliance with the triple test is demonstrated, elections in the affected 367 local bodies must proceed without any reservation for OBCs. The reserved seats for OBCs will temporarily be treated as general category.
