CM Seeks Strong Case for BC Quota

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Sunday reviewed the issue of providing 42 per cent reservation to the Backward Classes (BC) community in local body elections with his Cabinet colleagues, in the backdrop of the Supreme Court hearing scheduled for Monday on a writ petition challenging GO 9 issued by the State government.

Apart from the case listed before the Supreme Court, two related petitions are pending before the Telangana High Court, which is slated to hear them on October 8. The apex court will on Monday take up the petition filed by V. Gopal Reddy from Rajanna-Sircilla district.

The Chief Minister directed that the government present strong arguments in favour of the quota and asked Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, Minister Vakati Srihari, and TPCC president B. Mahesh Kumar Goud to leave for Delhi to meet senior advocates and explain the state’s stand. Following this, Bhatti and Srihari rushed to the national capital on Sunday evening, with a few more ministers expected to reach Delhi on Monday morning.

BC welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar separately met the Chief Minister and apprised him of the latest developments on the legal front. Later, he took part in a meeting with Bhatti, AICC in-charge Meenakshi Natarajan, and TPCC president Mahesh Kumar Goud to assess the implications of the petitions.

With multiple litigations underway, the Congress government finds itself under pressure.

Besides uncertainty over the 42 per cent BC quota, concerns have grown over the possible delay in the local body polls. According to official sources, the panchayat raj department is making alternative plans to hold elections under the earlier reservation pattern, capped at 50 per cent if the courts strike down the enhanced quota.

Since reservations for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were finalised on the basis of the 2011 Census, the government may revert to the previous arrangement of 23 per cent reservation for BCs if necessary. Voter lists with photographs for each ward in village panchayats have already been prepared, enabling a quick switch if required.

In such a case, the Congress could return to its plan of providing 42 per cent reservations for the BC community while nominating candidates for the zilla parishad and mandal parishad polls, which will be fought on party symbols.

Official sources indicated that, depending on the court verdicts, the government is prepared to finalise fresh BC and unreserved quotas and issue a revised election schedule within a week.

The State Election Commission has already issued election schedules, which may be rescheduled by a week for each phase. Plans are being drawn up to release the first-phase notification for mandal and zilla parishad polls on October 16 instead of October 9, with elections held on October 30 instead of October 23.

Similarly, the subsequent four phases could also be shifted by a week, enabling the entire process to conclude on November 18 instead of November 11 as announced earlier.

Congress sources said the state government remains committed to providing 42 per cent BC reservations but may have to wait for the Governor’s decision on the Bill amending the Panchayat Raj Act to enable such quotas.

They recalled that the Supreme Court had recently ruled that pending Bills must receive a decision within three months, failing which they would be deemed to have been assented to, and pointed out that two Bills already cleared twice by the Assembly remain pending with the President and the Governor.