Overview

• The Telangana High Court stayed GO No. 9, blocking the state’s plan to grant 42% reservation for Backward Classes in local-body elections.
• GO No. 9 was issued to raise BC quotas for municipal and panchayat polls, a move BRS leaders say cannot withstand judicial scrutiny without constitutional backing.
• BRS leaders, led by B. Vinod Kumar, demand that enhanced BC reservations be placed in the Constitution’s Ninth Schedule and urge Rahul Gandhi and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to pursue an amendment.
• They accuse Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and the Congress government of insincerity on BC quotas, citing the Supreme Court’s Krishnamurthy ruling that constrains expansion without constitutional change.
• BC associations held protests in places including Bhadrachalam and Dummugudem, while BRS leaders signaled electoral pushback with calls to punish Congress in the upcoming Jubilee Hills by-election.