Ranchi: Municipal elections to be held in Jharkhand may be deferred till Lok Sabha election. On June 26, the Cabinet had approved the formation of the Backward Classes Commission to determine the limit of OBC reservation in civic elections.
Even after more than two months, the commission has not been formed. In such a situation, it does not seem possible to have body elections in 2023. At the same time, the Lok Sabha and Vidhansabha elections are going to be held next year. In such a situation, civic elections may get postponed for a long time.
The post of chairman of the OBC Commission is reserved for judicial officers. It is said that the government is not finding a qualified candidate for this post. Therefore, the government is now considering changing the rules for constituting the commission. Instead of a judicial officer, a person associated with sociopolitical concerns can also be appointed as the president.
Even if the commission is formed in the next one or two months, it will still take 3 to 4 months to conduct the social, educational and economic survey of OBCs. Then, on the basis of the recommendation of the commission, the government will consider holding elections while fixing the limit of OBC reservation.
It is proposed to hold Lok Sabha elections by May 2024 and Assembly elections by November. But now it is discussed that Lok Sabha elections can be held only in December 2023. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has claimed that BJP has booked all the helicopters for the election campaign in December. After this claim, the opposition parties are keeping an eye on the stance of the central government.
If this happens, the Jharkhand government will also try to postpone the civic elections. Elections are going to be held in 48 municipal bodies of Jharkhand. The tenure of 34 municipal bodies has ended in April 2023. Before this, elections in 14 civic bodies are pending since May 2020.