Patna, June 5 || In a politically-charged move, Leader of Opposition (LoP) and former Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav has written a letter to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, demanding a special session of the Bihar Legislative Assembly to pass a new reservation Bill ensuring 85 per cent quota in government jobs and educational institutions.
LoP Tejashwi Yadav urged Chief Minister Kumar to form an all-party committee to study the issue of adequate representation among backward and marginalised communities.
Based on that report, he suggested that the Assembly should pass a Bill raising the total reservation to 85 per cent and send a proposal to the Central Government for inclusion in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution — thus protecting it from judicial review.
The demand comes in the wake of the Patna High Court’s decision to strike down the 75 per cent reservation law passed during the Mahagathbandhan regime.
The court observed that the law lacked empirical data to justify the increase in reservation beyond the 50 per cent cap set by the Supreme Court.
Tejashwi Yadav emphasised that during his tenure in the previous Mahagathbandhan government, a caste-based survey was conducted in 2023, which laid the foundation for the 75 per cent reservation framework — 65 per cent for SCs, STs, OBCs, and EBCs, and 10 per cent for EWS'.