LS passes key bill to restore states’ power to make their own OBC lists

TIL Desk/National/New Delhi/ Lok Sabha on Tuesday passed a Constitution amendment bill to restore the power of states to make their own OBC lists after a thaw in the logjam as Opposition parties backed the legislation but demanded the removal of the 50 per cent cap on reservation and many of them also called for a caste-based census.

With the Opposition seeking to corner the ruling BJP over the sensitive issue of quota, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Virendra Kumar said there is a need for careful examination of the demand made by several Lok Sabha members for increasing the cap of reservation beyond 50 per cent as constitutional issues are involved.

For the first time since the Monsoon session of Parliament began on July 19, Lok Sabha witnessed a debate in an orderly manner as the Opposition put its protests demanding a debate over the Pegasus snooping allegations on hold for The Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Amendment) Bill, 2021, which was passed with 385 members voting in support and no member opposing it.

The bill was passed as the 105th Constitution Amendment bill after being renumbered. Due to Covid protocols, some members of the House were seated in visitors galleries and therefore the division on amendments and the passage of the bill was conducted manually using slips.