Hyderabad: The state government on Tuesday sent the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Amendment) Ordinance, 2025, for the approval of Governor Jishnu Dev Varma. The Ordinance seeks to increase the reservations for Backward Class (BC) communities in local body elections to 42 per cent. Recently, the state Cabinet gave approval for a 42-per cent quota for the BCs in the local body polls.

With the Ordinance proposal reaching Raj Bhavan, all eyes are now on the Governor's response. The government is expecting that the Governor will give his nod in a week for the promulgation of the Ordinance. Following the recent High Court order directing the government to complete reservation-related procedures for local polls within 30 days and declare results by September 30, the government decided to take ordinance route to enhance the BC quota.

The government has already sent the Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill, 2025, which was passed by both Assembly and Legislative Council, for the Presidential nod through the Governor.

Since there was a delay in the approval of the Bill by the President of India, the state government decided to promulgate the Ordinance.

The state Cabinet approved the increase of BC quota to 42 per cent based on the data prepared by the recently conducted Caste Census (State Socio-Economic and Educational Empowerment Population Census -SEEEPC) in the state.