The Telangana High Court on Thursday (October 09, 2025) stayed the implementation of the state government order (GO) MS No. 9, which provided for 42 percent reservation for backward classes (OBCs) in the upcoming local body elections. In its interim order, the court suspended the operation of this GO till further orders.

The court directed the state government to file a counter affidavit within four weeks and allowed the petitioners to file their objections within two weeks thereafter. The next hearing of the case has been scheduled after six weeks.

Court raised questions on government order

This decision came after two days of debate in the High Court on the legality and proportionality of the OBC quota. The court questioned the validity of the government order and asked whether adequate deliberation was done in the data collection and analysis.

The court said in its observation, ‘After the data is published and the report is submitted by the Commission, should not the process of public publication, inviting objections and then addressing them be followed?’

67 percent reservation violates constitutional limits

Last month, the Telangana government had issued an order for 42 per cent OBC reservation for local body elections to be held in multiple phases in October and November. On September 27, the vacation bench heard a House motion petition and questioned the urgency of the order and the absence of the Governor’s assent to the bill. After this the case was listed for hearing on October 8.

The petitioners argued that increasing the OBC reservation from the existing 25 percent to 42 percent would take the total reservation in the state to 67 percent, which could be a violation of constitutional limits. The court has directed a thorough investigation into this matter and has sought a detailed reply from the government. This decision can have a significant impact on the process of local body elections.

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Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has appealed to the Maratha reservation agitator Manoj Jarange to think once again at the time of the proposed demonstration in Mumbai during the Ganesh festival. Shinde clearly said that it is everyone’s right to agitate, but during the festivals, it should not cause problems for the common people.

Devotees may face trouble

Eknath Shinde said, “Millions of people celebrate Ganesh festival in Mumbai. If the movement starts at this time, the devotees will have trouble. So I appeal to Jarange to consider changing time.”

The issue was also raised in the previous government

Shinde reminded that even when he was the Chief Minister, Manoj Jarang had made similar movements. At that time, the government had resolved many of his concerns and the Maratha society also benefited from it.

Ultimatum of Manoj Jarange

On the other hand, Manoj Jarage has given an ultimatum to the Maharashtra government to give 10 percent reservation to the Maratha society in the most backward class (OBC) by 26 August. Jarang has warned that if the demand is not met, a big march from Ganesh Chaturthi towards Mumbai will start on August 27 and they will go on indefinite hunger strike from August 29.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has made a serious allegation of Maratha reservation activist Manoj Jarange of making objectionable remarks against the mother of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. The BJP has described it as unacceptable and condemnable.

On the other hand, Manoj Jarange has dismissed these allegations outright, saying that his statements have been incorrectly introduced.

Eknath Shinde gave advice

Shinde said that Maharashtra is a cultural state and the traditions here are special. Sensitivity is necessary while speaking on any issue. He said, “We all should keep in mind that our words and steps do not spread any kind of bitterness in the society.”

Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi said on Friday (July 25, 2025) that it is his fault to not get caste census while his party remained in power, but now he has taken steps to rectify this mistake. He said that the issue of caste census is a political earthquake which has shook the political ground of the country.

Addressing the ‘OBC Partnership Justice Conference’ of the Congress, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi said, ‘I have been doing politics since 2004. When I evaluate my evaluation, I find that if I did a good job, there is a shortage of somewhere… I should get good numbers. I should get good numbers on the issue of women, but if I look back, one thing looks clear that one thing was reduced. I made a mistake, that is that I did not do the way the OBC class (of the interests) was to be protected. The reason for this is that I did not understand your issues deeply at that time.

The former Congress president said, ‘It is easy to understand the difficulties of Dalits … The issues of tribals are also easily understood, but the difficulties or issues of OBCs do not look easily. I regret that if I had known more about your history and issues, I would have done caste census at the same time (staying in power of Congress). That time has passed, but it is my fault. … This is not the fault of the Congress, my fault.

Referring to the issue of caste census, he said, ‘This is a political earthquake, which has shaken the political ground of India. You have not shocked this, but the work is done. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said, ‘The 21st century is the century of’ data ‘. (Narendra) Modi ji keeps speaking about data. Earlier, the country which used to have oil was considered powerful. … Today’s oil is data.

According to him, ‘data companies have … The data that has come to the Telangana government has no match. Today we can tell in Telangana in a minute how many OBCs and Dalits are in the management of all corporate groups of the state. Rahul Gandhi said, ‘You ask my sister (Priyanka Gandhi) that when I make up my mind for something, I back back or not …. I (from caste census) are not going to back down.’

He alleged that BJP and RSS have erased the history of OBC. The Congress leader said that Dalits, Adivasis and OBCs are the productive power of this country, but they are not getting the results of this.

The Supreme Court has asked to hold the local body elections in Maharashtra as soon as possible. Due to the ongoing dispute over OBC reservation, since 2022, elections of many urban bodies including Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were being postponed. Now the Supreme Court has asked the State Election Commission to issue the notification of elections in 4 weeks. Efforts should be made to complete the election process within 4 months.

Reservation from old system
The Supreme Court has also given clarity about OBC reservation in these elections. The court has said that in July 2022, the report of the Bantia Committee on reservation came. Petitions about him are still pending. Elections in many bodies were pending before the arrival of this report, so at present, reservation should be given only under the old system.

‘Need for democracy’
Justice Suryakant and Justice N. Kotishwar Singh expressed concern over the absence of local bodies in Maharashtra for a long time. Justice Suryakant said, ‘Local elections are very important in constitutional democracy. They should be organized at regular time. Government Babu should work instead of chosen public representatives, it is not appropriate.

‘Identification of backward’
The court also said that it is necessary to identify socially and politically backward classes and strengthen them, but after meeting all the legal needs, reservation can be given. During this time, the court also commented on the inequality in giving reservation.

‘Reservation railway box’
Justice Suryakant said, “Reservation has become a train box in which the passengers already sitting do not want to climb others.” The court said that the government should identify the officers of reservation benefits and make a place for them as well. It would be wrong to limit the benefit of reservation only to some sections.

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Karnataka caste survey: An important report related to caste census in Karnataka has been submitted to the state government. In this report, it has been recommended to increase the percentage of reservation to social and economically backward classes (OBCs) in the state from 32% to 51%. This report was placed in front of the Karnataka cabinet led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Government sources gave this information on Saturday.

According to sources, the socio-economic and educational survey (caste census) also highlights that the population of backward castes is 70 percent. The report suggested that 51 percent reservation should be given to backward communities in educational institutions of the state. Sources said that it has been given the example of Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand, which are providing 69 and 77 percent reservation respectively according to the population of backward classes. Sources said that the total population of other backward castes (OBCs) is 4,16,30,153.

Whose population is the most populous?

Citing the report, sources claimed that the population of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes is 1,09,29,347 and 42,81,289 respectively. The population of backward classes is according to categories as follows:

• 1A class: 34.96 lakhs
• 1B class: 73.92 lakhs
• 2A class: 77.78 lakhs
• 2B class: 75.25 lakhs
• 3A class: 72.99 lakhs
• 3B class: 1.54 crores

The total population of the OBC community has been stated to be 4.16 crore, including all these categories. Apart from this, the report shows the population of Scheduled Castes (SC) 1.09 crore and the population of Scheduled Tribes (ST) 42.81 lakhs. In this caste census survey, information of a total of 5.98 crore people was collected.

Report of caste census is being opposed

Controversy has arisen over the caste census report of Karnataka. The two major communities of the state, Vokkaliga and Lingayat, objected to this report, terming it unscientific and biased. These communities have demanded from the government that this report should be dismissed and a new survey should be conducted.

This report was submitted to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah by the Karnataka State Backward Classes Commission on 29 February. The Chairman of the Commission K.K. This report, prepared under the leadership of Jayaprakash Hegde, is based on the data collected in the entire state in 2014-15.

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