Internal SC quota: Forming commission not "delay tactics," says Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru, Oct 31: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday said that the government's decision to form a commission to gather empirical data for providing internal reservation among Scheduled Castes (SC), is not "delay tactics".
The cabinet on Monday gave its consent for providing internal reservation among SCs and decided to constitute a commission under a retired High Court judge, which will be asked to submit the report in three months.
"By forming this commission, the government is ensuring a fair, scientific, and unbiased implementation without any delay tactics. The government is committed to social justice and will work inclusively, without compromising on the interests of any community," Siddaramaiah said in a statement.
A section of SCs, especially 'SC Left', has been demanding internal reservation, alleging only a few influential sub-castes were taking away a majority of the benefits while many communities were still marginalised.
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Just ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls, the previous BJP government's cabinet had taken a decision on internal reservation, by recommending to the central government a six per cent internal quota for SC (Left), 5.5 per cent for SC (Right), 4.5 per cent for "touchables" (Banjara, Bhovi, Korcha, Kuruma etc) and one per cent for others.
The cabinet's decision on Monday came in the backdrop of a landmark verdict delivered by the Supreme Court on August 1, which held that states are constitutionally empowered to make sub-classifications within the SCs, which form a socially heterogeneous class, for granting reservation for the uplift of castes that are socially and educationally more backward.
Noting that the cabinet has given in-principle approval to implement internal reservation among SCs, addressing a longstanding demand for three decades, the CM said, Karnataka has 101 sub-groups within the SCs, and the government is working to bring internal reservation with a scientific approach, ensuring that all these groups are included and considered.
Also, citing the cabinet's decision to constitute a commission, he said the government has decided to pause new recruitment notifications for reserved positions in civil services and other departments until further notice.
The Telangana government has taken a similar step in establishing a commission for internal reservation, he said.
Noting that the Supreme Court has stated that scientific and accurate data is essential for implementing internal reservations properly, Siddaramaiah said, "to gather this data, the state government is forming this commission, which will ensure the report is submitted within the given timeline."
"Once the report is received, the government will proceed to implement internal reservations."
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Wayanad LS bypoll: Priyanka crosses lead achieved by Rahul in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Saturday comfortably cruising towards her maiden electoral win from Wayanad in Kerala, as she surpassed the lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year with party leaders and ally IUML predicting a big win for her amid the counting trends.
The Congress-led UDF's candidate from this hill constituency, Priyanka, extended her lead by over 3.8 lakh votes after five hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, according to the Election Commission.
Reacting to the lead achieved by Priyanka, Congress' ally Indian Union Muslim League and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said she would get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and will win by a record margin.
"An amazing first trend on counting day is the massive early lead for our leader @priyankagandhi ji in Wayanad, Kerala, by-election. People of Wayanad are surely going to record in victory margins today and Priyanka ji will make Parliamentary debut with a grand win," Reddy said in a post on 'X'.
IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.
A similar view was expressed by IUML's national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.
On the other hand, BJP leader Anil K Antony, earlier in the day, had claimed that though Priyanka has achieved a good lead, her victory margin would be less than what Rahul got in the 2024 and 2019 LS polls in the hill constituency.
According to the latest EC figures, Priyanka had a lead of 3,82,975 with 5,78,526 votes. LDF's Sathyan Mokeri was behind her with 1,95,551 votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1,04,947 votes.
Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI's Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year. In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770 votes.
After winning from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh as well, in this year's polls, Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, and the party nominated his sister Priyanka, paving the way for her electoral debut.
The bypoll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first.
The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13.
Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, ruling CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas.
