Postpone local body polls or we will not allow them to take place, says Maharashtra social welfare minister

Local body elections should not be held before the OBC reservation issue is resolved, said Vijay Wadettiwar after meeting Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray.

Two days after he said a review petition would be filed in the Supreme Court for OBC reservation in local self-government bodies, Maharashtra Social Welfare Minister Vijay Wadettiwar on Monday urged Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to postpone all local body polls.

The elections to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) are due in February 2022.

“NCP minister Chhagan Bhujbal and I have met the chief minister and urged him to postpone the polls till the OBC reservation issue is resolved,” Wadettiwar said. He said the chief minister was “positive” about postponing local body polls. “If the polls are not postponed, we will not allow them to take place,” he warned the government.

Two days ago, Wadettiwar said that the state government would file a review petition in the Supreme Court after it had quashed OBC reservation in local body polls. The Supreme Court ruled that reservation in favour of the OBC in local bodies should not result in exceeding the 50 per cent cap in quota determined by it.

The minister said they would urge the Supreme Court to direct the central government to provide the empirical data to the state government so that it could be placed before the apex court.

Another OBC leader Pankaja Munde of the BJP on Sunday announced that the party would hold statewide agitation to press for their demand for OBC reservation.

The OBC leaders across the state are also slated to meet in Lonavala on June 26 and 27 to decide on their future course of action.

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