Expressing concern over political parties using reservation policy for vote-bank politics, attorney general KK Venugopal on Thursday told the apex court that it is unfortunate that such promise on the eve of elections is not treated as bribe.
Addressing a Constitution bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, L Nageswara Rao, S Abdul Nazeer, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhat on reservation for socially and educationally backward classes including quota for Marathas in Maharashtra, Venugoupal said states are allowed to identify backward classes for purpose of reservation.
He, however, submitted that it had become a regular feature of electoral politics to whip up sentiments of a particular caste or class on the eve of election by political parties by promising to include it within the ‘reserved’ category. “This unfortunately is not considered a bribe. It is very unfortunate,” he said.