Telangana govt issues GO to extend 42 percent reservations to BCs

The Telangana government has issued G.O.Ms. No. 9 granting 42 percent reservation to Backward Classes in local bodies, paving the way for long-overdue elections. With the High Court setting a September 30 deadline, the State Election Commission is gearing up for polls across thousands of Gram Panchayats, wards, ZPTCs, and MPTCs.

Hyderabad: The State government on Friday issued GOMs 9 for providing 42 percent reservation of seats and positions in local bodies to Backward Classes.

These orders will now set the tone for conducting the local body elections, which have been long due. The High Court has already set September 30 as the deadline for the State government to conduct the local body elections and announce the results.

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The State Election Commission is conducting a meeting with senior officials, including Chief Secretary Ramakrishna Rao, District Collectors and SPs on Saturday over the arrangements to be made for conducting the elections. A notification is also expected to be issued later in the day.

Elections are to be conducted for 12,760 Gram Panchayats, 1,12,534 wards, 565 ZPTCs and 5763 MPTCs in the State. This would be followed by elections for 565 Mandal Parishats and 31 Zilla Parishats Chairmen.

In February 2024, the State government had decided to conduct the Socio-Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) survey. After it was approved in the Assembly and Legislative Council, GOMs 18 was issued on October 10 last year to conduct the survey.

Additionally, in November 2024, the Congress government had set up a Dedicated Commission under the chairmanship of retired IAS Officer Busani Venkateshwara Rao to conduct empirical enquiry into the nature and implications of the backwardness for specifying the proportion of reservations to be extended.

The Commission submitted its report to the government in March 2025 and observed that the BCs were relatively lagging compared to their population of 56.33 percent in the State. It had recommended at least 42 percent reservations in political representations, particularly in local bodies.