Despite hurdles, Gujarat Cong hopes to pass Reservation Bill

Notwithstanding the hurdles it may face, Gujarat Congress is hoping to pass the ambitious private member Bill demanding a separate 20 per cent reservation for Economically Backward Classes (EBCs) in the ongoing assembly session by engaging in on the floor as well as off the floor strategies.
The private Bill by Congress demanding separate reservation quota for EBC members of 'unreserved' category in the state was introduced in the Gujarat Assembly on March 10 by senior Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar alongwith three other party MLAs--Balwantisinh Rajput, Amit Chavda and Tejashreeben Patel.
It is named as "the Gujarat EBC (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions in the State and of Appointments and Posts in Services under the State) Bill-2016."

The Bill has been introduced in the wake of ongoing quota agitation by Patel community in Gujarat, which has helped Gujarat Congress to a great extent in winning Panchayat body polls held in November last year.
Ahead of those polls, Congress leaders have openly came in support of Patel community's demand for reservation.
As promised by the party before the commencement of current state Assembly session, they have introduced the Bill in the House.

Though the Bill has been introduced in the Assembly, there is no guarantee that it will be taken up for discussion, at least in this session, as there are more than 15 other such private member bills which are already in queue.

According to BJP MLA Bharat Patel, who is the Chairman of Assembly Committee on Private Members' Business, there are thin chances of this Bill to be taken up for discussion, as the House will take up those bills first which were introduced prior to this Bill.
"As per the schedule of this session, which will end on March 31, there is a space for only three private bills to be discussed in the House during the remaining days. As per the rules, we have to take pending bills first. Some of these pending bills are of 2015 or prior to that year," said Patel.

Gujarat Assembly usually meets twice during the year, one
for month-long Budget session in February-March and another during the month of July or August. Since the second session in July-August is usually of only two-three days, there exists no space for private bills in that session.
Thus, if this Bill does not come for discussion and voting in the ongoing session, Congress may have to wait for next year's Budget session.
As the Congress leaders know this technical aspect, they are now busy finding a way out to see that the Bill at least get discussed, if not pass, in this session, when the issue of reservation is very much alive and State Assembly elections of 2017 are approaching.

"We will definitely do our best to see that the Bill get discussed and goes for vote in this session. For this, we will request the Speaker, through the Committee, to take up our Bill on priority basis. We will also propose that other pending bills of our members should be de-listed to accommodate this Bill," said Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar, who has introduced the Bill.
Usually, private bills are not passed in the Assembly, even if they are from the treasury bench. In Gujarat Assembly, having 182 seats, BJP enjoys majority with 120 seats while Congress is having only 58 seats. In such scenario, the House usually clears government bills through voice votes only.

To win the numbers game in the House, Congress is working on a strategy to call for a ballot voting.
"After the discussion in the House on this Bill, we will request the Speaker to go for ballot voting instead of voice vote, as there is possibility that many BJP members, especially from Patel community, may want to vote in favour of this Bill and eventually we may get success in passing the Bill," Parmar said with high hopes.
The statement of the Bill reads that "with a view to fulfill a long standing demand from the poorest classes of the unreserved categories, a legislation thereof is required to be passed by the state Legislative Assembly to this effect."

Some of the key provisions proposed in the Bill include the formation of a five-member committee to decide as to what criteria should be adopted to consider the economical backwardness in Gujarat to provide 20 per cent reservation to them.
The report of the committee should be implemented by state government without any modifications, stated the Bill.
The Bill clearly states that this reservation for EBCs will not affect the current quota of reservation given to SC, ST and OBCs in the state.