BC Quota Order May Derail Local Polls: Experts

Warangal: Legal experts have warned that the government’s move to implement 42 per cent reservation for the Backward Classes (BCs) community in the local bodies elections through government orders could trigger a major legal crisis and potentially invalidate the entire election process. The state government recently issued GO.Ms. No.s 9, 41, and 42 to enforce the enhanced BC quota, even though the corresponding legislation — LA Bill No. 4 of 2025 — is awaiting the Governor’s assent.

Advocate Bajaru Shyam Prasad of Mulugu said the government had overstepped its authority by using executive orders to implement a measure that is not yet law. “An executive order cannot bypass the legislature or the Constitution. Conducting elections under such orders risks the courts cancelling the process later. This is a direct assault on the rule of law, he said.

Advocate Narra Dayakar of Hanamkonda cautioned that raising BC reservations to 42 per cent, when combined with the quotas for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes communities, would push the total beyond the 50 per cent ceiling imposed by the Supreme Court. “If the government exceeds this limit through administrative orders, the courts will strike it down,” he warned.

The advocates noted that conducting elections for thousands of panchayats, mandal parishads and zilla parishads involves crores of rupees and months of administrative effort. “If the courts later nullify the elections, it will waste public money and erode faith in the democratic process,” Dayakar said. They urged the government to pause the election process until judicial clarity is obtained and to disclose the legal opinions and data used to justify the new quota structure.