The Law Department on Tuesday sent a draft ordinance to the state Governor Jishnudev Verma to increase the reservation for BCs by 42% in local body elections. It has proposed to issue an ordinance amending Section 285(A) of the Panchayat Raj Act-2018 to increase the reservation. According to this section, there is a provision that the reservation should not exceed 50 percent.
In this context, it has been requested to amend this section and remove the sentence not exceeding 50 percent. The state cabinet recently decided to issue an ordinance to create 42% reservation for BCs in local body elections. In this context, the government has sent a draft ordinance to the Governor to relax the reservation.
In this context, there is a lot of excitement about the Governor’s decision. Only if the Governor approves the ordinance BCs will have a chance of getting 42% reservation in local elections. If the Governor rejects or objects, there is a risk that the increase in reservations will be stopped.
If the Governor approves the ordinance, the government will give a go-ahead and increase the reservations. If the Governor rejects the ordinance, there is a discussion on what the situation will be and how the government will move forward. As the deadline set by the High Court (September 30) to finalize the reservations for panchayats is approaching, the government machinery is working to implement the law amendment through an ordinance.
If the ordinance is approved by the Governor, the law amendment will come into force immediately and the BC Dedicated Commission will recommend reservations to local bodies. Based on them, the government will finalize the reservations and send them to the State Election Commission.
It is known that Chief Minister Revanth Reddy recently made comments after a cabinet meeting that BC reservations should be the main agenda in the 2029 elections, and that real success would be achieved only if these reservations were implemented in all states.
Revanth Reddy criticized the central government for deciding to conduct a caste census as part of the 2026 census only after they put pressure on it, and the BJP for not being sincere about BC reservations. He said that it is the responsibility of the BJP government at the center to include them in the constitution and provide legality.
