'Supreme Court paves way for...': Devendra Fadnavis suggests BMC polls to be held soon 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the Supreme Court’s latest order has cleared the way for holding local body elections with 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs).

“The apex court had already directed on May 6 that the local body polls be held as per the OBC quota of 2017. This direction was confirmed today. Now the entire OBC reservation will be implemented in the upcoming polls to local bodies,” Fadnavis was quoted as saying by news agency PTI.

He also noted that the 2022 ward delimitation law has been scrapped. Supporting the development, state minister and NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal welcomed the court’s dismissal of petitions challenging OBC reservation and called for the restoration of pre-2022 ward structures.

“The top court's decision removed significant hurdles in the implementation of OBC reservation in local self-governance bodies,” Bhujbal said.

He said several petitions were dismissed one opposing the OBC quota due to a lack of empirical data and another seeking the reintroduction of older ward structures.

“Certain petitioners had argued against OBC reservation, claiming that the empirical data for OBCs was not available. As a result, there was a call to eliminate the reservation in local bodies,” he added.

Bhujbal noted that elections in 91 local bodies were earlier held without OBC quotas, as the Supreme Court had asked the state to present valid empirical data. The Nirgudkar Commission’s findings were rejected, leading to the creation of the Bantiya Commission. However, he said even the Bantiya Commission’s data had flaws that impacted OBC representation.

"In response, we established the Bantiya Commission to gather more accurate data. Despite efforts... the data collected was flawed, leading to a reduction in OBC representation," Bhujbal said, citing misclassification of surnames like “Gaikwad”.

Referring to the May 2025 order, he said the court reaffirmed that elections would proceed with 27 per cent OBC reservation based on newly notified ward boundaries. He added the court upheld the state’s authority over ward restructuring, paving the way for full implementation of the OBC quota in upcoming polls.

(With inputs from PTI)