Overview

• The government filed a special leave petition asking the Supreme Court to vacate the Telangana High Court’s stay on G.O. 9 that raised Backward Class reservations in local bodies to 42 percent.
• The High Court had paused the order and set a six-week pleadings timeline, but polling is scheduled for October 23 and 27.
• In court filings, Telangana argues the Constitution sets no hard 50 percent cap and cites the Indira Sawhney ruling to say higher quotas are permissible in exceptional cases.
• The state says it satisfied the triple-test under Vikas Kishanrao Gawali, relying on a 2024–25 SEEEPC survey showing BCs at 56.33 percent of the population and a one-member commission’s 42 percent recommendation.
• The government notes its reservations Bill, passed in March and sent by the Governor to the President after Home Ministry queries, is still pending, and that implementing 42 percent with existing SC and ST quotas would take total reservations to 67 percent.