Overview

• A Supreme Court bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta dismissed Telangana’s SLP against the High Court’s interim stay on a 42% BC/OBC quota in local bodies.
• The Court said elections may proceed without the proposed increase, effectively retaining the 50% ceiling on total reservations for the upcoming polls.
• Telangana High Court had stayed GO No. 9 on October 9, noting that raising BC/OBC quota to 42% would push overall reservations to 67%, contrary to rulings in Indra Sawhney, K. Krishna Murthy and Vikas Gawali.
• Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi cited a 2024–25 socio-economic caste survey and claimed deemed assent to the Bill, but the bench questioned timing and stressed that the 50% limit holds for general areas.
• Politically, the Congress endorsed a statewide BC bandh on October 18 and vowed to press its case in the High Court, while the BRS warned against conducting elections without securing enhanced BC reservations.