Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti on Monday claimed panchayat polls in her party-ruled Madhya Pradesh without reservation for the Other Backward Classes (OBCs) will be injustice with about 70% of the State's population.
She urged State Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to find a way out that these polls are not held without ensuring the participation of the OBCs.
Last Friday, the Supreme Court directed the Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) to stay the poll process on seats reserved for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the local body there and re-notify those seats for the general category.
Expressing concern over the stay on OCB reservation in the Madhya Pradesh panchayat polls, Ms. Bharti in a tweet said, "I have spoken to MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh ji over phone today morning and urged him that the panchayat elections in the State without the OBC reservation will be injustice with about 70% of the population." "Our Madhya Pradesh government must find a way out that the panchayat elections are not held without finding a solution to ensure the participation of OBCs. Shivraj ji has informed me that he is consulting legal experts on this subject," the former State CM said in another tweet.
Madhya Pradesh State Election Commission (SEC) Commissioner B.P. Singh had on December 18 said in compliance with the Supreme Court order, the election process for general elections 2021-22 of the three-tier panchayat system for the posts of panch, sarpanch and members of the janpad and jila panchayats on seats reserved for the OBCs has been postponed.
He had also said the process of polls on other seats will continue as per the schedule announced by the commission earlier.
A total of 155 posts of members of jila panchayats, 1,273 members of janpad panchayats, 4,058 sarpanchs and 64,353 posts of panch had been reserved for OBCs during this election process.
On December 4, the SEC had announced polling for 859 posts of district panchayats across 52 districts in MP, 6,727 posts under 313 janpad panchayats, sarpanchs of 22,581 village panchayats and 3,62,754 posts of panch members, in three phases on January 6, January 28 and February 16, respectively.
