Close on the heels of a protest march by tribals in Bolangir demanding reservation of seats in the upcoming Panchayat elections, the OBC (Other Backward Class) Front in the western Odisha district on Wednesday took out a rally and gheraoed the Collector’s office over similar demands.
Thousands of members belonging to the OBC Front blocked a road too disrupting vehicular traffic for quite some time before submitting a memorandum to the Additional Collector.
Speaking about their demand, Shankar Patra, president of the State OBC Front said, “We want a census of OBCs in the State and removal of 50 pc cap on reservations by the Centre.”
“As far as the State government is concerned, we demand it to provide us jobs and free education. And we will not stop our protest unless the government assures to fulfil all of those,” said Patra.
Meanwhile, political slugfest broke out ever since the draft reservation list was released by the State government without making any provision for seat reservation for backward class candidates in the upcoming three-tier Panchayat elections.
As per reports, the State unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to intensify its protest and attack on the ruling BJD over the OBC reservation issue.
However, the BJD’s counter to the BJP’s allegation has remained the same; the list has been prepared as per the Odisha High Court’s ruling.
It is pertinent to mention here that the members of the outfit- Paschim Odisha Adivasi Kalyan Sangha- took out a rally on Monday and held a Maha Meli (meeting) in front of the office of the Bolangir district Collector. They alleged that their community has been left out in the reservation list for the forthcoming rural body elections.
The association members demanded immediate implementation of reservation rules for Block chairman and Sarpanch in the Panchayat elections 2022 as per Article 243D of the Constitution of India. Article 243D of the Constitution under Part IX provides for reservation of seats for SC & ST in every Panchayat.