Polling for Junagadh municipal corporation, 66 municipalities, and three taluka panchayats in Gujarat will be held on February 16, a poll official said on Tuesday. This is the maiden electoral contest for local bodies based on a 27 per cent quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in panchayats, municipalities and civic corporations announced by the Gujarat government in 2023.
Votes will be counted on February 18, a top poll official said on Tuesday. Polling will be held on February 16 for Junagadh municipal corporation, 66 municipalities, and Kathlal, Kapadvanj and Gandhinagar taluka panchayats, the State Election Commission stated. Simultaneously, midterm polls will be held for Botad and Wankaner municipalities and bypolls to 124 seats of different local and urban bodies lying vacant for various reasons.
State Election Commissioner S Murali Krishna told reporters that 27 per cent of seats will be reserved for OBCs in this election as per the 2023 decision of the Gujarat government.
“In all, polling will be held on February 16 for 2,178 seats through 4,390 booths from 7 AM to 6 PM. The last date to file nominations is February 1,” Krishna said, adding that the model code of conduct has kicked in. The government in August 2023 increased the OBCs quota threshold in municipal corporations, panchayats, and municipalities to 27 per cent from the previous 10 per cent based on the Justice Jhaveri Commission’s report. The existing quotas in local bodies for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes at 14 per cent and 7 per cent, respectively, remained unchanged, maintaining the overall quotas under the 50 per cent ceiling.
The Jhaveri commission was set up in July 2022 after the Supreme Court ruled that reservations for OBCs should be based on their population.
The panel collected and analyzed data about the nature and implications of backwardness in local bodies, an exercise necessary for fixing the OBC quota in elections for institutes of local selfgovernance.