Karnataka assembly caps quota to 50 per cent in BBMP polls

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BENGALURU, Karnataka: The State Legislative Assembly of Karnataka on Tuesday, September 20, passed a bill restricting quota reservation to 50 per cent for the Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribe, Other Backward Classes and women in the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) polls.

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (Amendment) Bill, 2022, aims to provide 33 per cent reservation to OBCs while not exceeding the cap of 50 per cent as per the order of the Supreme Court of India.

Basavaraj Bommai, Chief Minister of Karnataka, while introducing the bill in the legislature on Tuesday, said, “The combined reservation for SC/STs, OBCs and women in the BBMP will be restricted to 50 per cent.”

The government informed that it is necessary to amend Sections 7 and 8 of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike, 2020, to cap the reservation sealing at a maximum of 50 per cent in BBMP, as per the directives issued by the apex court.

Earlier in June, the Government of Karnataka, through an ordinance, reserved 33 per cent of the 243 seats in the Bengaluru city council for backward classes. While through a notification issued on August 3, the government fixed the ward-wise reservation for SCs and STs at 13 per cent. Meaning that around 81 seats have been reserved for OBCs, and 32 seats are reserved for SCs and STs out of a total of 243 seats.

As per the new reservation matrix for the city of Bengaluru, the percentage quota for the SCs and STs has been reduced from 18 per cent, which was determined based on the population of these communities in the city.

However, the total reservation is less than 50 per cent as per the order of the Supreme Court, even after increasing the OBC quota from 27 per cent to 33 per cent.