SC Rejects AP Govt’s Plea on 34% BC Quota in Local Body Polls

NEW DELHI/ VIJAYAWADA: In a major legal setback for the N. Chandrababu Naidu-led coalition government in Andhra Pradesh, the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed the state government’s Special Leave Petition (SLP) challenging the High Court’s order that struck down 34% reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections.

A apex court bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu upheld the Andhra Pradesh High Court’s ruling, calling it “very reasonable” and emphasizing that total political reservations in local self-government institutions cannot breach the 50% constitutional ceiling set by earlier landmark judgments.

The Supreme Court affirmed that combining Scheduled Caste (SC), Scheduled Tribe (ST), and Backward Class (BC) reservations beyond the 50% ceiling is constitutionally impermissible without rigorous, contemporaneous empirical data.

The judgment affirms the AP High Court’s October 1 decision setting aside Government Orders (G.O. Ms. No. 105 and G.O. Rt. No. 1065), which had mandated 34% BC reservation in rural local bodies (Panchayat Raj Institutions) and 33.33% in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs).

The bench observed that the state had failed to conduct the triple-test empirical exercise mandated by the Supreme Court to justify any reservation quota exceeding the prescribed threshold.

With the Supreme Court refusing to grant relief, the Andhra Pradesh government will have to adjust BC quotas back within the permissible limit to ensure total reservations remain under 50%.

The AP High Court had previously directed the state government and the State Election Commission (SEC) to initiate the local body election process within six weeks. Following the dismissal of the state’s appeal, the SEC is expected to release the official schedule for rural and urban local body elections shortly