Supreme Court upholds Andhra Pradesh High Court judgment on BC reservations

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The Supreme Court dismissed the Andhra Pradesh government’s plea against the High Court (HC) judgment on reservations for the Backward Classes (BCs) in elections to rural and urban local bodies (ULBs).

The HC had earlier this week set aside G.O. Nos. 105 and 1065 through which the government sought to provide 34% reservation to BCs in Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) and 33.33% quota in the ULBs, saying they exceeded the 50% threshold.

Hearing the special leave petition (SLP) filed by the State government on Friday (October 9, 2026), a Bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu turned down the State’s appeal, calling the HC order in the matter ‘very reasonable’.

Appearing for the State, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted that there was no reason for the HC to reject as unreliable the data on the basis of which the percentages of reservation were determined by the State.

Justice Datta asked Mr. Rohatgi to tender an explanation as to how the HC erred in its judgment and on the relevance of the Unified Family data.

The Supreme Court said the HC had rightly held that the reservations were beyond the 50% ceiling prescribed in the 1992 Indra Sawhney v. Union of India judgment, and there was no empirical data to justify the breach of that ceiling.

In a separate petition, a three-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana said the elections could not be delayed on the ground that the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls was under way, and the existing rolls should be used if the situation warranted.

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