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AP High Court nixes 34% BC quota in local polls
In Short
- GOs 105, 1065 quashed; court says reservation breaches 50% ceiling laid down by SC
- SEC directed to complete rural and urban local body election process within six weeks
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AP High Court nixes 34% BC quota in local polls
Amaravati: The Andhra Pradesh High Court has struck down the state government's orders providing enhanced reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections, holding that the 34 per cent quota would take the overall reservation beyond the 50 per cent ceiling laid down in the Supreme Court's rulings.
A division bench headed by Chief Justice Lisa Gill quashed the two government orders, which provided for BCs 34 per cent reservation in rural local bodies and 33.33 per cent in urban local bodies respectively.
The judgment has direct implications for the state government's proposed reservation framework for the elections to gram panchayats, mandal praja parishads, zilla parishads, and urban local bodies. The court also directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to complete the local body election process within six weeks.
It rejected a plea seeking postponement of the elections until completion of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and made it clear that an ongoing census or electoral-roll exercise could not be used as a ground to indefinitely defer the elections. The court further held that publication of final electoral rolls should be carried out in accordance with the statutory provisions governing panchayat raj and municipal administration.
The legal challenge arose after the state government, following Cabinet approval, decided to restore 34 per cent BC reservation in local bodies. GO Ms No 105, issued on August 20, 2026, provided 34 per cent reservation for BCs in rural local bodies, covering posts including gram panchayat ward members and sarpanches, mandal praja parishad members and presidents, and zilla parishad members and chairpersons. The Municipal Administration Department subsequently issued GO Ms No 1065 providing 33.33 per cent reservation for BCs in urban local bodies.
During the proceedings, petitioners, including advocate Tandava Yogesh, questioned the legal and empirical basis for fixing the BC quota at 34 per cent. They raised, among other issues, the absence of a dedicated exercise for enumerating the BC population and the reliance on the state-wide household survey and the report of the commission headed by retired IAS officer Rajiv Ranjan Mishra. In its counter-affidavit, the government told the High Court that the comprehensive household survey had placed the BC population at approximately 50.42 per cent. It also relied on the study conducted by the Mishra Commission in support of its decision.
The court, however, set aside the reservation orders after considering the competing submissions and the applicable Supreme Court rulings on the ceiling on reservations.
The dispute has a significant precedent in Andhra Pradesh. In 2020, the High Court struck down the then 34 per cent BC reservation and orders that had taken the aggregate reservation for SCs, STs and BCs to about 59.85 per cent. The present petitions again brought the question of the permissible aggregate reservation in local bodies before the court.
Several other petitions were also considered in the proceedings. The court dismissed the plea seeking to postpone local body elections until completion of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. The tenure of the existing local bodies expired in March/April, and elections were due to be conducted by the end of October. Against this backdrop, the High Court's direction to complete the election process within six weeks assumes significance.
The bench also declined to interfere with ward delimitation, despite petitions challenging earlier orders relating to the exercise. The judgment followed the conclusion of arguments on September 16, after the bench considered various, issues including the state's family-survey data, the constitution and terms of reference of the Mishra Commission, the basis for fixing the BC quota at 34 per cent and the applicable reservation ceiling.
