THE CONGRESS in Gujarat is hoping to pass an ambitious private member bill demanding 20 per cent reservation for ‘Economically Backward Classes (EBCs)’ in the ongoing assembly session.
The private bill demands a separate reservation quota for EBC members of the 'unreserved' category in the state and 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 while there is an demand for reservation by the Patel community in Gujarat.
Congress leaders have openly came in support of Patel community's demand for reservation.
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.
Private bills are usually not passed in the Assembly, even if they are from the treasury bench. In the Gujarat Assembly, which has 182 seats, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) enjoys a majority with 120 seats, while Congress has only 58 seats. In such a scenario, the House usually clears government bills through voice votes only.
