Telangana government provides 42% quota for BCs in local bodies

The Telangana government has provided 42% reservation to backward classes in seats and positions in the local bodies ending the agonising wait for the conduct of the local body elections.

In an order issued on Friday (September 26), the government said the order followed, considering the exceptional situation in the State marked by the multi-dimensional backwardness of the BC communities in terms of social and political indicators. The order follows the delays in the Presidential Assent to the Acts passed by the State Legislature, providing 42 % reservations to the BC communities.

The order has been issued based on the evidence, legal sanction and judicial recognition and in view of the urgent necessity to ensure welfare, empowerment and full participation of backward classes, BC Welfare department Secretary Jyoti Buddha Prakash said, adding the development envisaged upholding the constitutional vision of equality, social justice and inclusive growth.

He cited Article 40 of the Constitution, which laid down that the State should take steps to organise village panchayats with such powers and authority as might be necessary to enable them to function as units of self-government. The Constitution also empowered the State to make provision for reservation of seats in any panchayat or offices of chairpersons in panchayats at any level in favour of BC citizens.

The government recalled the constitution of the Dedicated Commission chaired by retired bureaucrat Busani Venkateshwara Rao in November last year to conduct a contemporaneous rigorous empirical enquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness of local bodies in order to specify the proportion of reservations to be provisioned. This was followed by the Social, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) survey in February this year, which was subsequently approved by the two houses of the Legislature. The survey had thrown light on the relative economic, social, educational, employment and political status of different castes in the State.

Based on the SEEEPC surveythen One Man Commission observed that BC communities continued to remain relatively lagging compared to their population of 56.33 % in the State and recommended at least 42 % reservation in political representations, particularly in local bodies.

The government, after careful consideration of the Commission’s recommendation and in view of the BC population’s inadequate political representation, concluded that it was necessary to revise the existing level of reservation in rural and urban local bodies to 42 % for their welfare and advancement and “The Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill, 2025” was passed by both houses of the Legislature unanimously by all the political parties.

Subsequently, the Dedicated Commission was given additional terms of reference to indicate local body-wise seats and positions to backward classes, and the Commission submitted its report on July 28, indicating the seats and positions in rural local bodies for Bcs and the same was considered by the government, the order said.