All eyes are on the Supreme Court verdict expected today on the issue of OBC reservation in local body elections. But, the election administration has informed the State Government that OBC reservation is already less than 50 percent in Buldhana district. There are 11 municipal councils and two nagar panchayats in the district of which two nagar panchayats have one year of their tenure left. So but for the two nagar panchayats, elections will be held in the remaining 11. All these 11 nagar panchayats have an OBC reservation of less than 50 percent. Administration has informed the State Government that the reservation for other backward classes in Buldhana is between 33 and 46 percent. It may be mentioned here that total 288 civic bodies, including 242 municipal councils and 42 nagar panchayats, are going to polls Maharashtra soon.

 

Of them, 57 exceed the 50 percent reservation limit. There are 30 seats in Buldhana MC of which 14 are reserved- 5 seats for scheduled castes (SC), one for scheduled tribes (ST) and 8 for OBCs. In percentage it is 46.66. The Malkapur Municipal Council also has 30 seats of which 10 are reserved- two for SC and 8 for OBCs. The percentage of total reserved seats is 33.33. Khamgaon Municipal Council has 35 seats and of them 13 are reserved- 4 for SC and 9 for OBCs which gives a percentage of 37.14. The Shegaon Municipal Council has the same number of members, 35, and of them 13 seats are reserved. These include 8 reserved for SC, one for ST and 8 for OBCs, which is 43.33 percent. Nandura Municipal Council has 25 seats, out of which 10 seats are reserved. Total 3 are reserved for SC and 7 for OBCs, which is 40 per cent.

 

The Mehkar Municipal Council has 26 seats, out of which 12 seats are reserved, with a percentage of 46.15. It has 5 seats reserved for SC and 7 for OBCs. Chikhli Municipal Council has a 28 seats, out of which 5 are reserved for SC and ST each. The percentage here is 46.42. Deulgaon Raja Municipal Council has 21 seats with two reserved for SC and six for OBCs, giving a percentage of 38.09. Jalgaon Jamod Municipal Council has 21 seats of which two are reserved for SC and six for OBCs. The percentage is 39.09. Lonar Municipal Council has a total 20 seats out of which two are reserved for SC, 5 for OBCs and the percentage is 40. Sindkhedraja Nagar Parishad has a total of 20 seats out of which three are reserved for SC and five for OBCs, and the percentage is 40. Election process for these 11 municipal councils in the district is underway and total 286 councillors will be elected. Of them, 37 will be from SC category, 3 from ST and 77 from OBC category.

 

Thus, the average reservation percentage is 40.90. And therefore, the court ruling on OBC reservation will not have any impact on the elections for the eleven municipal councils of Buldhana district. In fact, even in the upcoming ZP and panchayat samiti elections, the reservation for Buldhana district may not be disturned. There are total 61 seats in the Zilla Parishad of which two are reserved for SC, three for ST and 16 for OBC candidates. There is reservation on only 31 seats which in terms of percentage 50.50. Thus, the quota is just .50 percent more than 50. If objection is raised against this as well, OBC may lose one seat. However, since the Zilla Parishad and panchayat samiti election process has not yet started, how that equation shapes up is for the later. As of now, all attention is on the municipal council and nagar panchayat polls.