Overview
- The West Bengal Legislative Assembly approved two amendment bills on Monday, June 29, by a recorded vote of 186 in favour, 17 against and 6 abstentions to rewrite the state's OBC reservation law.
- The legislation formally re‑instates a pre‑2010 list of 66 OBC communities and reduces the combined OBC reservation from the previous 17% framework back to a single 7% quota for eligible groups.
- The bills remove a large number of communities added after 2010—reports describe dozens of Muslim sub‑groups among those excised—and validate the state government's May notifications that regularised the 66‑community list.
- They restore the West Bengal Commission for Backward Classes as the statutory body to conduct surveys, hear applications and objections, and recommend future inclusions to the state government.
- The BJP says the changes implement the Calcutta High Court's May 2024 ruling that struck down many post‑2010 inclusions and cancelled roughly 12 lakh OBC certificates issued after 2010, while opposition parties warn the rollback will cut social‑justice benefits for affected communities and fuel communal tensions.