In a major decision drawn out of the ongoing Gujarat Assembly monsoon session, the Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2023 was passed on Sept 15.

Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, offering 27% reservation to other backward classes (OBC) from the current 10% can be seen as a move to cater to the OBC vote bank.

27% reservation to OBCs

Health and family welfare minister Rushikesh Patel said that the community in local self-government bodies like panchayats, municipalities, and civic corporations is 27%. He said that the OBCs will get 11,390 more seats under this bill.

No change in SC-ST reservations

The existing quotas for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes (ST-SCs) will remain unchanged, and the reservation ceiling of 50% has not been exceeded.

At the next local body election, more seats will be allotted to OBC applicants and officials.

With this, Gujarat has become the fourth state in the nation to give 27% reservation to OBCs in local bodies.

Amendments made according to Jhaveri Commission

Patel said that the K S Jhaveri Commission carried out a census with the context of numbers including the number of OBC students admitted in 1st standard in 2021-2022, OBCs in the election roll, censuses from the British era, numbers released by various departments in different societies, and the rural population of OBCs, which is 52% and 46.43% in urban areas.

Opinions were taken from all the political parties, office-bearers from different zones, committee chairpersons, district representatives, and 13 registered parties on the state level.

On the basis of these recommendations, the government has decided to allot 27% of the reservation to the OBCs.

The cabinet has made amendments to the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporations Act, 1949, the Gujarat Municipalities Act, 1963, and the Gujarat Panchayats Act, 1993.

How many seats will increase in local bodies?

Opposition’s protest

The Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill 2023 was passed amid strong protests from the opposition. It was reportedly passed through a majority voice vote after all the 17 Congress MLAs staged a walkout in protest demanding a higher ratio of reservation and tabling of a report of the Commission headed by former Supreme Court justice KS Jhaveri.

The opposition demanded to present the K S Jhaveri Commission report to the house first, as they believed that unit-based counting was not done aptly.

Congress leader Amit Chavda said that the government has considered the recommendations of the Supreme Court and the Jhaveri Commission.

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