The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the Telangana government’s plea challenging a Telangana High Court order that had stayed the implementation of 42 percent reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections.
A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta declined to interfere with the High Court’s interim order dated October 9, 2025, which had paused the operation of the state government’s decision to raise BC reservations in local bodies.
The High Court had passed the interim stay while hearing a batch of petitions questioning the legality of the state’s move. It also directed the state government to file its response within four weeks.

The petitions before the High Court challenged the government order issued on September 26, 2025, which raised the quota for BCs to 42 percent in local bodies. The petitioners argued that this pushed the total reservation to 67 percent, breaching the 50 percent ceiling on reservations laid down by the Supreme Court in a series of landmark judgments, including Indra Sawhney v. Union of India.
With the Supreme Court’s dismissal of the state’s plea, the High Court’s interim stay will continue to operate until further orders.