Almost a year into his second term as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath seems to have overcome a serious hurdle that had suddenly threatened the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) caste calculus, especially the Other Backward Class (OBC) equation in the state.
Accused by the opposition of hatching a conspiracy to do away with the backward caste reservation in the urban body polls, the government is now all set to have a systematic allocation of reservation, on the basis of the report submitted by the dedicated OBC commission, constituted to look into the reservation for the backward castes.
THE BACKLASH
Earlier in December, the government had faced a serious backlash from the opposition after the OBC reservation declared by it was rejected by the high court. The Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High court had rejected the government’s argument on the basis that it has failed to adopt the “triple test procedure” for deciding the reservation. This procedure often referred to as the “TTT” test was laid down by the Supreme Court in one of its judgments in 2021.
This order from the apex court had said that the state needs to adopt a certain scientific procedure for fixing reservation for the OBC across different urban bodies in the state. The first step in this procedure needs to be the formation of a dedicated OBC commission. The Yogi government has skipped this step to look into the backward caste reservation before declaring the polls earlier in November last year.
As the government had violated an important step of the Supreme Court defined procedure, the declared reservation and the proposed election was challenged in the high court. The high court then refused to acknowledge the prescribed quota and on December 27 ordered the government to go ahead with the urban body polls, without the OBC reservation.
The inability to safeguard the OBC quota in urban polls came as a major embarrassment for the Yogi government. It further threatened to seriously impact the BJP’s caste calculation and the strong inroads it has made among the OBCs, especially the non-Yadav castes over the years.
The situation, if not salvaged, could have also threatened the party’s calculations in the longer run for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
YOGI SALVAGES THE SITUATION
Following the setback from the high court and amid increasing attacks from political adversaries, the UP CM didn’t lose time. The very next day of the judgment, he declared that government will not hold the urban body polls without the OBC reservation and that the government will challenge the order in the Supreme Court. The same day, a dedicated OBC commission, under the chairmanship retired high court judge Ram Avtar Singh, was constituted to study the OBC reservation for local bodies.
The five-member commission was given six months to complete its work. Subsequently, the government also filed a petition in the Apex court against the order of the high court. The Supreme Court then stayed the HC order to hold the elections without OBC reservation. It came as a major relief for both the Yogi government and the ruling BJP.
Justice Singh-led commission moved ahead swiftly and was able to complete its work in less than three months. It submitted its report to UP CM on March 9, following which the report was also tabled before the state cabinet held on Friday and was subsequently adopted.
ELECTIONS SOON WITH NEW RESERVATION
With the first of the procedural step as defined by the Supreme Court being implemented in the form of the commission report, decks are now clear for the government to announce the fresh reservation for the OBC.
As per the Apex court order, no state government can give a blanket reservation, it needs to be on a proportional basis from one urban body to other depending upon the population ratio. The prescribed TTT formula, however, also makes it clear that in any case this OBC reservation cannot be more than 27%.
Professor Prashant Trivedi of the Giri Institute of development study explained: “Proportional representation means that if a particular urban body has 15% OBC population, then the backward caste reservation there cannot be more than 15 %. However, if a particular body has say more than 27% of its population as the OBC, there the upper ceiling of 27% reservation will be applied. As per the Supreme Court guidelines, the quantum of reservation for SC/ST and OBC taken together cannot be more than 50%.”
Meanwhile talking to News18, Ram Avtar Singh said, “The commission, in its findings, has highlighted the drawback of reservation mechanism of the past. In many cases, data was altered to give desired reservation, probably to suit particular leaders. Some cases like the Yadavs were over represented compared to the OBC.”
Meanwhile after being adopted by the state cabinet, sources say the government is now all set to approach the Supreme Court within the next few days and file the report. The matter is listed for April 11. By apprising the court of the development, the government is likely to seek the speeding up of the hearing and permission to go ahead with the local body polls at the earliest.
Uttar Pradesh has 762 urban local bodies, of which there are 17 municipal corporations, 200 municipalities and 500 plus nagar panchayats. Sources say the government is likely to begin the exercise to declare the new reservation within a week.
With the reservation battle being won, the ruling BJP is sure to claim justice for the OBC, which is almost certain to resonate also in the mega electoral battle for the Lok Sabha in the year to come.
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