The OBC Depart ment of the Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Tuesday sub mitted a representation to the Chief Electoral Officer, Altinho, urging the immedi ate implementation of the Supreme Court-mandated Triple Test for providing reservation to Other Back ward Classes (OBCs) in vil lage panchayat and munic ipal council elections. In the memorandum, GPCC OBC Department chairman Sharad ‘Nitin’ Chopdekar stated that the Supreme Court had con sistently held that OBC reservation in local body elections can be granted only after the completion of the Triple Test.
The process includes the con stitution of a dedicated Commission to conduct an empirical inquiry into the backwardness of OBCs in relation to local bod ies, determination of the proportion of reservation based on the commis sion’s recommendations and ensuring that the total reservation remains with in constitutional limits. The memorandum ex pressed concern that the State government was yet to complete the process required for implementing the Triple Test, resulting in OBC communities being deprived of their consti tutional right to adequate political representation in local self-government insti tutions.
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The GPCC OBC Depart ment also appealed to the State Election Commission (SEC) to ascertain the sta tus of the government’s compliance with the Triple Test, advise the State gov ernment to complete the process without further delay, ensure that OBC res ervation is implemented in accordance with the Consti tution and Supreme Court directions before the forth coming village panchayat and municipal council elections and safeguard the constitutional rights of the OBC community by conducting free, fair and constitutionally compliant local body elections. The memorandum stat ed that the OBC communi ty has waited for long for its rightful political rep resentation and that timely action by the State Elec tion Commission would strengthen democratic par ticipation and uphold the constitutional principles of equality and social justice.
