Andhra Pradesh challenges High Court ruling on BC quota in local polls

The Andhra Pradesh government has approached the Supreme Court against a High Court judgment concerning reservation for Backward Classes in local body elections. The State filed a Special Leave Petition on Saturday, challenging the High Court order of October 1. The government said the case raised questions about the constitutional authority of State legislatures to provide political reservation for BCs in local self-government institutions.

The High Court had set aside government orders to the extent that the overall vertical reservation exceeded 50%. The State contends that the court treated the 2026 exercise as having the same shortcomings as an earlier reservation exercise considered in Birru Prathap Reddy v. State of Andhra Pradesh.

The government argues that the latest exercise followed the Supreme Court’s requirement for a contemporaneous and rigorous empirical inquiry before providing political reservation for OBCs in local bodies. It relied on a Unified Family Survey ordered in December 2025. According to the State’s petition, the survey gathered household- and citizen-level information covering demographic and socio-economic conditions, education, employment, housing, assets and related factors.

The government says population was not used as the sole basis for reservation, but was one important empirical input. The State also referred to constitutional provisions that enable reservations in Gram Panchayats and municipalities, and to amendments to the Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act providing for not less than 34% reservation in specified seats and offices. The government says the High Court should have assessed the 2026 material cumulatively.

It also points to an alleged inconsistency in treating urban and rural local body reservations alike, noting its claim that aggregate reservation was about 49.24% in urban local bodies compared with 61.08% in panchayat institutions.