Telangana to amend Panchayat Act for 42% BC reservation in local body polls

In the 2018 Act, BRS government, which was in power in the state from 2014 to 2023, had capped reservation at 50 percent in line with the Supreme Court’s overall cap over reservation. In July this year Revanth Reddy government passed two Bills and issued an Ordinance to breach this ceiling and sent it to the governor of the state.

The governor’s office then forwarded the ordinance and the bills for President’s assent. Since then, the Bills and the Ordinance which seek 42 per cent reservation for BCs in local bodies, are pending with the President.

The decision to implement the reservation through a Government Order has come as a breather for the state’s BC political leaders who have been demanding the 42 percent reservation for BCs in local body polls. The Bills pending with the President also allows 42 percent reservation for BCs in educational institutions and government jobs.

Prabhakar added: “The Congress government has been committed to implementing 42 percent reservation for BCs because we take our social justice commitments rather seriously. In the Kamareddy Declaration of the Congress party we had promised this reservation and we are keen on implementing it”.

Earlier in August, Ponnam Prabhakar and MLAs and MPs of the Congress party had staged a protest in Delhi demanding the Central government to support 42 percent reservation. “We have tried all the ways to implement the reservation,” Prabhakar said.

In another cabinet decision, former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin, who’s been Azharuddin a supporter of BC reservation,  was nominated to Telangana’s Legislative Council.