Overview

• Telangana’s Backward Classes Welfare Department issued a Government Order reserving 42% of seats and positions in rural and urban local bodies for BCs.
• The order invokes Articles 243D(6), 243T(6) and 40 of the Constitution and cites empirical evidence from the SEEEPC caste‑socioeconomic survey.
• A dedicated commission led by retired IAS officer B. Venkateshwara Rao found BCs form 56.33% of the population and recommended at least 42% political reservation.
• Legislative measures to raise BC quotas, including bills to lift the 50% cap, remain pending gubernatorial and presidential assent, prompting the executive order route.
• With the High Court’s September 30 deadline for completing local‑body polls, the State Election Commission is coordinating arrangements as Panchayat Raj and Municipal departments map 42% seats before the poll schedule.