India News | Panchayat Polls in Jharkhand May Take Place Without OBC Reservation

Ranchi, Mar 9 (PTI) The Jharkhand government on Wednesday indicated in the state assembly that it may go for panchayat polls without specifying reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

Replying to a calling attention motion by BJP MLA Ramchandra Chandravanshi, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Alamgir Alam said panchayat polls would be held soon without the triple test, as specified by the Supreme Court.

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The triple test includes setting up a dedicated commission to conduct an inquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness in connection with local bodies.

The second condition is to specify the proportion of reservations required to be provisioned local body-wise as per recommendations of the commission.

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The third test is that the reservation should not exceed 50 per cent of the seats reserved in favour of SCs, STs, and OBCs taken together.

During the ongoing budget session of the Assembly, Alam said that the Centre might stop the 15th Finance Commission grants for schemes like MNREGA if the state failed to hold panchayat polls.

Financial Commission rules state that grants should be given to functional, duly elected panchayats.

The minister said that the state has suffered a lot due to delays in the conduct of the panchayat polls on account of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Triple test is a long process...without triple test, OBC reservation is not possible. If we extend the panchayat elections we may be debarred from the 15th Finance Commission grants.The state has suffered a lot due to delay in the conduct of the panchayat polls," Alam said.

The state cannot go on extending the panchayat polls and so the Jharkhand government on February 24 gave its nod to a proposal to hold panchayat polls, he said.

As per the State Election Commission, the first Panchayati Raj elections were held in Jharkhand in November- December 2010, and the second three-tier elections were held in November- December 2015.

The Centre had made it clear that wherever panchayat elections are not held, funds under MNREGA, etc would not be released and hence the government decided on a priority basis to hold panchayat elections.

"The three-tier panchayat polls will be conducted soon without the triple test. The government would conduct a triple test after the panchayat polls,” Congress MLA Alam said.

Replying to JMM MLA from Chaibasa Deepak Birua who demanded against the holding of panchayat elections in scheduled areas citing PESA law in Fifth Schedule areas, Alam said the government would conduct panchayat elections in both Fifth Schedule areas and other districts.

Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) or PESA is Central legislation that extends the Provisions of the Panchayats, as given in Part IX of the Constitution to Fifth Schedule areas with certain modifications and exemptions.

Scheduled areas are areas with a preponderance of tribal population subject to a special governance mechanism and the Fifth Schedule protects tribal interests in states other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura, and Mizoram.

Earlier this week, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren said in the assembly that the Opposition was trying to give political colour to issues like OBC reservation and domicile.

AJSU Party legislator Lambodar Mahto had demanded increasing OBC quota in the state, to which the chief minister had shot back saying “It is well known that whose government brought down the OBC quota from 27 per cent to 14 per cent in Jharkhand. But our government is sensitive. I can assure you that we will soon decide on it after studying the same (quota) of other states.”

The OBC quota was reduced during the tenure of the BJP-led Babulal Marandi government. AJSU Party was then a part of the government.

The Supreme Court had in January this year declined to recall its earlier orders quashing 27 per cent OBC quota in panchayat polls in Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh.

The apex court had said the state election commissions would de-reserve OBC seats in all future local body elections across the country unless such quota is determined in strict compliance with its triple-test guidelines.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)