MUMBAI — In a major political development, the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly unanimously passed two bills to defer the upcoming elections to the civic and local bodies till the OBC quotas are restored in the state, here on Monday.

The assembly passed the bills – the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, the Maharashtra Municipal Corporations Act, the Maharashtra Municipal Councils, Nagar Panchayats & Industrial Townships (Amendment) Bill 2022 and the Maharashtra Gram Panchayats Act, 1959, and the Maharashtra Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samitis (Amendment) Bill 2022.

Under these amendments, the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC)’s powers to delimit and fix the wards is proposed to be cancelled and the government shall be empowered to decide delimitation of wards and fix the number of members in these bodies.

The Maharashtra State Election Commissioner (SEC) will decide the poll schedules for the civic and local bodies elections in consultation with the state government.

The development came after the Supreme Court last week rejected the Maharashtra State Backward Classes Commission’s Interim Report recommending restoration of the 27 per cent political reservations to the OBC communities, proving a setback to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress.

The move, supported by the Opposition, assumes significance as 15 top civic bodies including BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), 25 Zilla Parishads and 232 Municipal Councils are slated to go for elections shortly.