Draft reservation roster for five city corporations notified, OBC group to challenge it

The State government on Thursday published a draft of the ward wise reservation roster for the newly formed five city corporations and their 369 wards in the Greater Bengaluru Area, with 15 days to file objections to the same. With this, the city gets a step closer to holding the long-delayed civic polls, which Bengaluru Development Minister and the ruling party Congress State chief D.K. Shivakumar has announced would be held this year.

However, at least one organisation has already said they would challenge the basis for this reservation roster in the High Court of Karnataka once the final notification is issued, likely in February. This means the civic polls may be delayed again.

If it happens, it will be a repeat of 2021, when the previous BJP regime notified the reservation roster for 225 wards of the erstwhile Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) raising hopes that polls would be held, but were dashed with the notification challenged, leading to an inordinate delay.

If the reservation roster is not challenged or upheld by the court , elections could be held during the upcoming summer break for schools.

“Work on drawing up separate voter lists for the five city corporations in Bengaluru will be completed by the first week of March. If the final notification of the reservation roster for the wards is notified by then, we can hold elections during the summer after the exam season is over,” G.S. Sangreshi, Commissioner, Karnataka State Election Commission, told The Hindu.

Reservation within 50% cap

The reservation for Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) have been accorded in proportion to their population in each corporation limits and not as per the standard reservation matrix followed for education and job opportunities at the State level. However, in no corporation does the vertical reservation based on caste exceed the Supreme Court mandated 50% cap. Meanwhile, the draft reservation roster provides for around 50% horizontal reservation for women.

To be challenged over ‘triple test’

However, it is the OBC reservation that is likely to be challenged. The Karnataka Damanita Hindulida Jaatigala Okkoota, a forum of OBC activists, said they would challenge it once the final notification is issued on the grounds that the Supreme Court mandated ‘triple test’ to identify “politically backward communities” and exclude “politically advanced communities” from Backward Classes (BC) reservation in local bodies.

The Supreme Court in 2010 set a triple test formula for OBC reservation in local bodies- an independent commission has to, based on empirical data, identify “politically backward communities” and provide them reservation, with the total reservation not exceeding 50%. The Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP government formed the Justice K. Bhaktavatsala Committee in 2022. The incumbent government announced in October, 2023 that it had accepted the report, not yet made public, in parts, including the recommendation that OBCs should be given 33% reservation like before.

The State government has now notified the draft based on this recommendation giving OBCs 33% reservation.

K.N. Lingappa of the okkoota, and a former member of the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes, said this “triple test” has not been implemented in the State in letter and spirit till now, and elections have already been held twice to local bodies, doing “injustice to politically backward” OBCs and they would now fight to ensure another election is not held without it ”.

“If the triple test is implemented in the State, Backward Classes B group, which includes the politically strong Vokkaliga and Lingayat communities, has to be dropped from the reservation roster. It can be safely said that the Bhaktavatsala Commission, which got only two months time, couldn’t base its report on empirical data,” he said.

In the draft notification of the reservation roster, Backward Classes B has 6.5% reservation.

The okkoota has been demanding the State government to form a new commission to identify “politically backward” and “politically advanced” communities among the OBCs based on empirical data and redraw the reservation as per the commission’s recommendations.