Published on: 4 August 2025
Author: Marathi.Infonews9.com
Supreme Court Upholds 27% OBC reservation; Notification in Maharashtra within four weeks and elections completed in four months
🧾 What was decided?
- The Supreme Court has decided to restore the pre-2022 27% reservation structure for OBC reservation in Maharashtra. That is, the reservation reduction made during the Banthia Commission report has been canceled. The court has rejected several petitions related to ward delimitation in 2022 and approved holding elections under the new ward structure
⏳ Clear instructions from the court
- The Maharashtra State Election Commission has been ordered to issue the election notification within four weeks
- Instructions have been given to complete the election process within four months after the notification; but if necessary, an application can be made to the court for an extension.
🌐 Election process begins— from where?
- Election process will begin soon in 29 Municipal Corporations, 257 Nagar Parishads, 26 Zilla Parishads, 289 Panchayat Samiti institutions. These institutions have been under administrative control for the last 3–5 years and the democratic process will gain momentum immediately
- Ward boundary drafting, reservation rosters, and preparation of electoral rolls have begun. For this work, the SEC has directed the administration to start the delimitation and reservation process
• - Some cities including Nagpur Municipal Corporation are seeing some delay in the delimitation process, so this may affect the election schedule ____________________________
🏛️ Political and social response - Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and NCP’s Chhagan Bhujbal have welcomed the decision. Bhujbal has said that “this decision is a big opportunity for the OBC community to get political representation” and has expressed respect to the BJP and the central government for maintaining the constitutional status of the OBC category.
- The OBC community has widely supported this decision; The community has created a belief that the reservation structure will definitely change due to the change in ward structure ____________________________
📅 Upcoming schedule
Phase details
Decision date 4 August 2025
Election notification expected to be issued in the next 4 weeks
Election process to be completed within 4 months of notification
Final conclusion Applicable as per the final decision of the court on pending petitions
📌 Outcome and way forward
- OBC community will get an opportunity to get political representation at the local level.
- Revised ward structure and fresh Electoral roll and Reservation rosters will be able to accelerate the process.
- SEC has started preparations and is likely to announce the phased schedule of elections between October and December 2025. This decision will be an important step towards restoring grassroots democracy in Maharashtra.