Patnaik led BJD to field 27 pc OBC candidates in upcoming panchayat polls in Odisha

Odisha's ruling Biju Janta Dal on Friday has announced to give 27 per cent tickets to Other Backward Class (OBC) candidates in upcoming panchayat polls and subsequent Election in Odisha.

Speaking to the media, Higher Education Minister Arun Sahoo said, "The BJD president Naveen Patnaik has decided that the party will field 27 per cent candidates from OBC/SEBC in coming three-tier panchayat election in the state," said Sahoo adding that other political parties in the state should also reserve 27 seats for the OBC candidates.

Sahoo further stated that BJD has also demanded 33 per cent reservation for women candidates in the Assembly and Lok Sabha.

"Due to the 50 per cent cap decided by the Supreme Court and there hasn't been any central law to determine the OBC reservation, BJD has taken the political decision and decided the quota from within the party itself," Sahoo added.

Sahoo also stated, "The socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) Act 2008 has a provision for reservation for the OBCs, but the quota has not been implemented due to the unavailability of the exact data related to the OBC Population as Cast-based census has not been conducted."

A Biju Janata Dal MPs delegation has met Union Home Minister Amit Shah recently in Parliament and submitted a memorandum for increasing the reservation beyond 50 per cent ceiling by enacting a Central Legislation for the empowerment of states and Undertaking caste-based Census for identifying and enumerating the SEBC/OBCs.

( With inputs from ANI )