Govt wants to suppress OBC community, deliberately delay p’yat polls, says Aldona MLA
PANAJI: The notification issued by the state government for next month’s panchayat elections does not reflect reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBC), and this could be ploy to further delay the polls, Aldona MLA Adv Carlos Alvares Ferreira said.
He said that the state government has deliberately withheld data on OBC reservations, and refrained from submitting it to the Goa State Election Commission (SEC).
“The state government has conducted the previous panchayat elections by including OBC reservation. The government could have shared this data with the SEC. This data could have been verified by SEC if it complies with the Supreme Court directives on OBC reservation. The government’s act of not sharing and withholding the data amounts to grave injustice to the OBC community. It is very clear that the government does not want to give reservation to OBCs,” he said.
In compliance with the Supreme Court directives, the state election commission had sought data on OBCs from the government, and had commenced the reservation process in this regard, he said. However, the SEC order in the gazatte notification mentions that the state government returned back the reservation proposals of 186 panchayats to the commission after completing the consultation process on May 26, and that the government has not provided data on OBC reservations.
“I feel that by not including OBC reservation for the August 10 polls, this will compel some people to approach the court for relief. This could be a deliberate ploy by the government to postpone the elections by gaining backdoor approval from the court to obtain an extension for the polls,” he said.
Such a manipulative approach by the government to postpone the polls does not augur well for the people of Goa and this country, he said.
“The OBC community needs our help. The government deliberately wants to marginalise this community. Even if the OBC reservations are eventually granted by court or otherwise, people need to vote against such people who support the government and are part of this plan, and send out a strong message that this is unacceptable,” he said.
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