Supreme Court has allowed conduct of local polls with OBC quota in Maharashtra, says DyCM Devendra Fadnavis

Elections to local governing bodies can be held now with the OBC quota in Maharashtra with the Supreme Court giving its nod, deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said here.

The state government, however, has requested the State Election Commission not to schedule elections to local bodies immediately as many parts of Maharashtra have been affected by heavy rains and floods, the BJP leader told reporters.

Earlier, the apex court had set aside the quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in local elections in Maharashtra for lack of empirical data about their populations.

"The Supreme Court today accepted the state backward class commission's report for OBC reservation. It has given permission to allot OBC reservations as per the commission's report," Fadnavis said.

But the Maharashtra government has requested the SEC not to announce fresh dates for elections immediately as many areas are severely affected by heavy rains and the situation needed to be handled on priority, he added.

Fadnavis, who became deputy CM after his party supported rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde for the chief minister's post last month, accused the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of wasting time "pointing fingers at the Union government" over the issue.

"When I said that the backward class commission's report can be finalised (and submitted to the court), I was ridiculed. But our government has given answer to the critics through our action," Fadnavis said.

Earlier, the SEC had scheduled elections to 92 municipal councils and four nagar panchayats on August 18, but they were postponed in view of the hearing in the SC on Wednesday.