Karnataka: BBMP polls after May as SC sets March 31 deadline for OBC quota

BENGALURU: In a big relief to the Karnataka government, the Supreme Court on Thursday granted time till March 31, 2023 for a dedicated commission to finalise the political reservation for other backward classes (OBC) in urban local bodies, including Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, in the state.
This would effectively mean BBMP polls could be held only after May when the assembly elections are due. The BBMP elections were due to be held in early 2020.
A bench comprising Justices S Abdul Nazeer and Hima Kohli passed the order after hearing Solicitor General for India, Tushar Mehta, representing the state government and counsel for the respondents. Mehta told the court that the dedicated commission has been constituted as per the directions of the Karnataka high court and work is going on.
He added that the high court had ordered for collection of empirical data to determine the political reservation for OBCs and added that three more months is required to complete the task.
However, the respondents submitted that there is already a recommendation by the Backward Classes Commission for providing 33% reservation to OBCs. They argued that in the exercise undertaken by the Commission, if a door-to-door survey is contemplated, at least 1-2 years will be required and the same will not happen within the next three months.
It may be recalled that on December 18, 2020, the Supreme Court had stayed the December 4, 2020 order passed by the Karnataka high court directing the State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct the election to 198 wards of the BBMP, instead of 243 wards as desired by the state government. The state government and several others had challenged the said high court decision.
On September 30, 2022, a single bench of the Karnataka high court, while ordering conducting of the BBMP polls before the end of this year, had directed the state government to collect empirical data on a war-footing and furnish the same to the Dedicated Commission. It had asked the government to secure the report from the commission and publish the final notification providing for reservation as specified under Section 8 of the BBMP Act 2020 on or before November 30, 2022.
In this background, the state government had moved the Supreme Court, seeking more time to finalise the reservation.