Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik has urged the Election Commission to postpone the upcoming local body elections, claiming that the central government has misled the Supreme Court and Parliament on the OBC issue.
Malik stated that the NCP would take up the matter with the government in Parliament.
"On behalf of the Union Government, it was stated in Parliament that the imperial data on OBCs was 97 percent correct. However, in the Supreme Court, the central government has said that the same data is not correct and the number of OBCs cannot be determined from it, which means that the central government has misled the Supreme Court or Parliament, " Malik said.
"A resolution was passed in the cabinet yesterday following the Supreme Court's decision on OBCs' political reservation. Until then, the Election Commission should postpone the forthcoming elections for three months," Malik said further.
"We are committed to ensure that no election can take place without OBC reservation, Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe reservation. Nawab Malik also said that whatever steps need to be taken for this will definitely be taken through the party and the government," he said.
Malik further stated that the decision may have implications across the country and claimed that the BJP wants to end reservation.
"Yesterday's decision of the Supreme Court will not be limited to Maharashtra only. The decision of the Supreme Court applies to the whole country. This would jeopardize OBC reservation across the country. The Central Government is on the verge of ending the political reservation given by the Mandal Commission," he said.
"BJP's instinct is to end reservation. The lawyers who are going to court against the reservation have the support of the BJP. The BJP provides money to those who go to court against the Mahavikas Aghadi," he added.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the State Election Commission (SEC) of Maharashtra to notify 27 per cent seats in the local body, which were reserved for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), as general category so that the poll process can be taken forward.
Following this, the Maharashtra cabinet decided to approach the State Election Commission for deferring the December 21 polls to local bodies till Other Backward Classes data is collected by the State Backward Class Commission (SBCC).
