WB Assembly passes Bills to revamp OBC reservation framework

The West Bengal Assembly passed two Bills amending OBC reservation laws, enabling the BJP government to revise the OBC list prepared under the previous TMC regime. The amendments restore the earlier framework and empower the Backward Classes Commission to review community inclusion

Kolkata: Two crucial Bills relating to reservation in West Bengal government jobs for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) were passed by voice vote in the Assembly on Monday, paving the way for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government to scrap the OBC list prepared during the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) regime.

The two Bills passed by the House are “The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than SC and ST) Reservation of Vacancies in Services and Posts (Amendment) Bill, 2026” and “The West Bengal Backward Classes Commission (Amendment) Bill, 2026”.

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Backward Classes Welfare and Mass Education Extension and Library Services Minister Gouri Shankar Ghosh tabled the Bills.

Speaking during the debate, BJP legislators alleged that the previous TMC government had deliberately prepared a biased OBC list by including a large number of people from the Muslim community to appease its minority vote bank. The party also claimed that the revised list had given additional advantages to Muslim communities at the cost of Hindu communities.

At present, there are 65 communities under Category A for OBC reservation and 78 communities under Category B, as provided under the law amended during the TMC regime.

The BJP, the then principal opposition party, had objected to the new list prepared during the TMC regime and claimed that communities from a “Muslim” background were given additional advantage in that list, depriving the communities from a “Hindu” background.

With the passage of the two Bills, the Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari-led BJP government has cleared the way to cancel the OBC list prepared by the previous Mamata Banerjee-led Cabinet. The amendments also empower the Backward Classes Commission to raise objections to the inclusion or exclusion of any community from the OBC list.

The Bills further provide that the state government, in consultation with the Backward Classes Commission, will determine the percentage of reservation for OBCs in state government jobs. While the reservation quota may be revised from time to time, the total reservation will not exceed 50 per cent. The government will also have the authority to classify OBC communities into different categories based on their degree of backwardness, in consultation with the Commission.

The new legislation also restores the structure of the reservation law introduced by the erstwhile Left Front government. OBC reservation in West Bengal was introduced in 2010 following the recommendations of the Ranganath Mishra Commission.

The then Left Front government, led by the late Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, enacted the law through a Bill introduced by the then Backward Classes Development Minister Yogesh Chandra Burman. It provided 10 per cent reservation for Category A and 7 per cent for Category B communities.

After coming to power in 2011, the TMC government amended the law in 2012, retaining 65 communities in Category A and 78 in Category B. Christians converted from the Scheduled Castes were also included in Category B. The amendments also reorganised the schedules of the original law by shifting the earlier Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 to Schedule 2 and Schedule 3, respectively.

Under the Bills passed on Monday, the BJP government has reinstated the original Left Front-era Schedule 1, corresponding to Schedule 2 under the TMC law, while scrapping the TMC-era Schedule 1 and Schedule 3.

Under the Bills passed by the West Bengal Assembly on Monday, the percentage of reservation in state government jobs for OBCs will be decided by the state government in consultation with the Backward Classes Commission.