Despite the rise in the number of members at Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC), representatives from other backward castes (OBC) will come down after the Supreme Court decision on the reservation in the local body's election. As per the decision, the maximum reserved seats do not breach 50 percent of the total seats.
The apex court has set the quota cap at 50% and the combined reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs have to fit within it. Thus, the number of seats reserved for the OBC category will be decided after calculating the SC and ST reservations first.
In such a scenario, the reservation for OBC in the PMC will be 25.2 percent, keeping the number of tribal populations in civic jurisdiction. Earlier, there were 78 members in the PMC of which 24 seats were reserved for the OBC category as there was a 27 percent reservation. Following a rise in population, the state election commission increased the number of members from 78 to 89 in the PMC. However, after the SC accepted the Jayant Banthia commission report, there will be only a 25.2% reservation for the OBC category. Now, with 89 members in the corporation, the total number of members from the reserved OBC will be 22 to 23.
Arvind Mhatre, a former corporator from the People and Worker Party (PWP) who had contested the last election on OBC reserved seat said that he is waiting to get more details about the decision. “I have come to know that there will be a change in the number of reserved seats. So, I am waiting for a detailed copy of the decision,” said Mhatre. However, he added that there will be a minor change in the number of seats and he will contest only on the reserved seats for OBC from any part of the city.
Meanwhile, Panvel MLA Prashant Thakur said blamed the previous state government. “This has happened due to the delay in providing the empirical data of OBC by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. After the civic election, we will raise this issue and get the right percent of reservation for the OBC,” said Thakur.
