The Supreme Court on Friday gave the green signal for holding Maharashtra local bodies elections, stalled since 2022, in a move to revive grassroots democracy in the State and transfer the running of panchayati raj institutions from bureaucrats to elected representatives.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi passed the order as an interim measure in a prolonged dispute over the political representation of Other Backward Classes in local bodies. The court was hearing petitions claiming that the State’s decision to allow 27% reservation to OBCs, on the basis of the J.K. Banthia Commission report, had led to the aggregate quota in several poll bound local bodies crossing the 50% cut off mark.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission, represented by senior advocate Balbir Singh, informed the court that reservation exceeded 50% in 40 out of the 246 municipal councils and 17 of the 42 nagar panchayats due for polls on December 2.
The Bench ordered that elections to these bodies should go ahead according to the notified election schedule. However, the court clarified that the results in the 40 municipal councils and 17 nagar panchayats, where reservation breached the 50% limit, would be subject to the final outcome of the current proceedings.
