State govts did not take proper stand over OBC reservation issue: Prahlad Patel

Amid the ongoing impasse over OBC reservation in civic polls, Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel on Saturday said the state governments did not take a proper stand over the matter and the backward classes should not be thrown back into the fire.

"There have been mistakes over the matter. We should have either gone to Supreme Court or the Assembly for the reservation to OBCs in politics. The best way to overcome the shortcomings of governments is to exercise caution and not throw the backward classes into the fire," Patel told ANI.

He said that the battle for the reservation of the backward will have to be fought taking everyone together.

On Friday, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan held a meeting regarding the OBC reservation. During the meeting, the way to implement the triple test to decide the reservation in Panchayat elections was discussed.

Madhya Pradesh is mulling over grating 22 per cent reservation for OBC in panchayat polls. Statistical data will be collected for this purpose. The government is also keeping an eye on the strategy of other states.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court stayed the election process for the seats reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the local body polls in Madhya Pradesh.

A Bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar asked the state election commission to re-notify the seats for the general category. It also pointed out that a similar OBC quota in Maharashtra local elections was stayed recently.

The Court passed the order while hearing an application seeking stay on the December 4, 2021 election notification issued by the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission in respect of OBC seats in local bodies.

On December 15, the apex court had ordered Maharashtra State Election Commission to issue a fresh notification to treat 27 per cent seats reserved for OBC as a general category for local body polls and commence the election process.

It had asked State Election Commission to renotify the 27 per cent OBC constituencies as general seats and resume the election process along with the remaining 73 per cent.

( With inputs from ANI )

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