SC dismisses Telangana’s plea against interim stay on 42% quota for OBCs in local body polls

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by the Telangana government against an interim order issued by the Telangana High Court staying an increase in reservation for Other Backward Classes in the upcoming local body elections in the state to 42%, Live Law reported.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta also said that the High Court must decide the main matter on merits and not be influenced by the dismissal of the petition filed by the state government, Bar and Bench reported.

On October 9, the High Court stayed the state government order increasing the reservation. It directed the Congress government in the state to file its counter affidavit within four weeks and granted two weeks’ time to the petitioners to file their objections thereafter.

It then listed the case for further hearing after six weeks.

The gram panchayat elections in the state are will be held in three phases on October 31, November 4 and November 8. The Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency and Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituency polls are scheduled for October 23 and October 27.

The stay on October 9 came more than a month after the state government passed the 2025 Telangana Municipalities Third Amendment Bill and the 2025 Telangana Panchayat Raj Third Amendment Act on August 31 to lift the 50% ceiling on...

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