BANGALORE: The Karnataka Pradesh Backward Classes Federation on Friday urged political parties to reserve 50 per cent of their seats for candidates from backward classes category in the elections to provide proportional representation to them.

Federation president M. Srinivasa Babu told presspersons here that there were 800 castes and sub-castes belonging to the backward classes in the State.

Mr. Babu urged the political parties to field candidates belonging to the backward classes so that development programmes could be taken for their uplift. He urged Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to implement the wishes of the former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda in appointing candidates from the Other Backward Classes to 50 per cent of the posts of chairmen of boards and corporations.

The other demands of the federation were immediate constitution of the backward classes commission, extending backlog posts to the OBCs and reservation even in appointment of judges up to the Supreme Court and in professional courses, removing all anomalies in giving promotion to these sections, allotting sites and houses by the Government and in all welfare schemes on a par with the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

The federation has organised a State-level convention of all backward castes and sub-castes at Town Hall here on January 16. He said his organisation would launch an agitation, if the Government failed to implement the demands within a reasonable time. He appealed to all OBC leaders, religious heads, politicians and industrialists to participate in it for launching a movement.

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