BC Sarpanch Seats Cut Across Nalgonda Region
BC groups argue that if 42% reservation had been applied, BCs should have secured up to 310 sarpanch posts. Instead, reservations for SCs, STs and the General category have seen marginal increases.
Nalgonda: Reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in Gram Panchayat (GP) sarpanch posts has fallen in Nalgonda and Yadadri–Bhongir districts for the 2025 GP elections, compared to 2019.
In Nalgonda district, BCs held 164 GP sarpanch posts in the last elections. This has now dropped to 140—a reduction of 24 seats or 4%. Among these, 61 have been reserved for BC (Women) and 79 for BC (General).
Of the district’s 869 gram panchayats, 384 fall under the General category (186 General–Women and 198 General). Reservations include 153 SC seats (69 SC–Women, 84 SC–General) and 192 ST seats (88 ST–Women, 104 ST–General).
BC groups argue that if 42% reservation had been applied, BCs should have secured up to 310 sarpanch posts. Instead, reservations for SCs, STs and the General category have seen marginal increases.
Damaracherla mandal, which has 35 GPs, has no BC-reserved sarpanch post this time, although it had two in 2019.
A similar decline is seen in Yadadri–Bhongir district. Of its 427 GPs, only 106 sarpanch posts are reserved for BCs—10 fewer than in 2019. The remaining include 199 General, 49 SC and 74 ST seats.
In Suryapet district, of the 486 sarpanch posts, only 86 are reserved for BCs, while 384 fall under General, 91 under ST and 111 under SC. BCs have received the lowest number of seats this election. Notably, Chivvemla mandal (32 GPs) and Palakeedu mandal (22 GPs) have no BC-reserved sarpanch seats.
BC Association district president Duduku Lakshminarayana said BC reservation for GP sarpanches has fallen from 23% in 2019 to 19% now. He questioned whether the reservation policy considered mandal or district as the unit and alleged that the government appears to have focused only on keeping overall reservations below the 50% cap. “Injustice has been done to BCs,” he said.
