Voting for the sixth phase of Lok Sabha elections is going to be held on June 25 and then the last round of voting will be held on June 1.
In this way, about a week is left for the elections and before that the discussion about the important decision of the Calcutta High Court is intense. On Wednesday, the High Court abolished the OBC status of 77 Muslim castes in West Bengal. The High Court gave this important decision declaring the basis of granting OBC status to these Muslim castes as illegal. Out of these 77 castes, 42 were given OBC status in 2010 by the then Left government. After this, the remaining castes were added during the Mamata Banerjee government.
The court said in its decision that there should be an immediate ban on these communities getting appointments under the OBC quota. Along with this, a relief news was also given that no action should be taken against those who have now got jobs or admission under OBC quota. Although the decision of the High Court is an example for other states of the country, its electoral impact can also be seen in Bengal. The population of Muslims in the state is about 30 percent, who have influence in almost the entire state.
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The 17 seats where elections are held in the sixth and seventh phases have a sizeable Muslim population. In such a situation, it would not be surprising if there is a situation of polarization in the elections. Rejecting the OBC status, the court said, ‘The court is of the view that wrong criteria were adopted for granting OBC status to 77 Muslim castes. It is also suspected that an attempt was made to use these people as vote bank. The way these people were included in the OBC list, it seems that they were treated as vote banks.
Who filed the petition and what was the argument
The court has given this order after a long hearing on the petition filed by three people. In these petitions, it was said that many castes were included in the OBC-A and OBC-B list without any economic and social study. This happened after 2011, when Trinamool Congress came to power.
