The high court's oral order on Friday had led to the interpretation that it had stayed the election process, but the official copy of the verdict cleared the air on Saturday. The court clearly said it was not staying the electoral process.
Published Oct 11, 2025 | 5:46 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 11, 2025 | 5:46 PM
The Telangana High Court. (Wikimedia Commons)
Synopsis: The Bench clarified that it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the rival contentions at this interim stage, which would be addressed at the time of final hearing. The court ordered an interim stay on the operation of the three GOs. It directed the state to file its counter affidavit within four weeks and allowed the petitioners two weeks thereafter to file their replies. The matter has been posted for final hearing on 3 December 2025.
After the official order of Telangana High Court became available on Saturday, 11 October, it became clear that the court had not stayed the election process per se but halted the implementation of three government orders: GO Ms. Nos. 9 and the consequential GOs, 41, and 42.
The GOs, all dated 26 September 2025, had increased the reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in local bodies to 42 percent.
The court observed that the GOs breached the 50 percent ceiling on total reservations laid down by the Supreme Court and that it had not satisfied the mandatory “triple test” conditions prescribed by the apex court.
With the court order providing clarity, the state government can still ask the State Election Commission to go ahead with the polls after reworking reservations in accordance with the old arrangement, where the reservation for BCs in rural local bodies stood at 23 percent.
But the A Revanth Reddy-led state government appeared to have decided to move the Supreme Court for a stay on the high court order. The state government seemed to be putting on a front that it was trying very hard to get reservations for the BCs, as per Kamareddy declaration of the Congress party – 42 percent quota in local bodies.
However, it was suspected that Revanth Reddy was trying to buy time by going in for an appeal to the Supreme Court or sit out until the apex court disposed of the case about the three-month timeframe for governors and the president to decide on Bills pending with them.
Pending polls
Though it has been more than one-and-a-half years since the local bodies slipped into the special officers’ role, the state government seemed disinterested in holding the elections, on the pretext that it was still trying to get legal sanction for a 42 percent quota hike. Revanth Reddy’s detractors said he did not want elections now since the party’s image had already taken a beating, what with the unkept promises or partially delivered ones, which are perceived to have ruffled the people.
There was speculation that the chief minister might go in for elections, maybe by the end of December, when he would be able to credit rythu bharosa money for the rabi season, and hope that farmers would be less hostile to him when they cast their votes in local body elections.
The high court’s oral order on Friday had led to the interpretation that it had stayed the election process, but the official copy of the verdict cleared the air on Saturday. The court clearly said it was not staying the electoral process.
The state, during hearings in the high court, contended that it had complied with the triple test requirement by setting up a dedicated Commission to conduct a rigorous and contemporaneous empirical inquiry into the nature and extent of backwardness in local bodies across Telangana, and to determine the proportion of reservations to be provided based on its recommendations. It further argued that the 50 percent ceiling on total reservations — covering Scheduled Castes (SCs), Scheduled Tribes (STs), and OBCs — is not an inflexible rule.
However, the court noted that the decision in the Vikas Kishanrao Gawali case (2021) specifically dealt with OBC reservations in local bodies and made it clear that the triple test must be satisfied by all states before implementing any such reservations.
On the other hand, the petitioners against the hike in reservations, placed reliance on a series of interim orders of the Supreme Court, including Suresh Mahajan v. State of Madhya Pradesh [(2022) 12 SCC 770], Rahul Ramesh Wagh v. State of Maharashtra [(2022) 12 SCC 798], and State of Maharashtra (supra), all of which reiterated that no reservation for OBCs in local body elections can be provided unless the triple test has been fulfilled “in all respects.”
Quoting paragraph 13 of the Suresh Mahajan order, the high court recalled that “until the triple test formality is completed in all respects by the State Government, no reservation for OBCs can be provisioned; and if that exercise cannot be completed before the election schedule is notified, the seats, except those constitutionally reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, must be notified as General Category.”
The triple test comprised empirical data of the castes, a decision on reservations by a dedicated commission, and finally ensuring that the 50 percent cap on reservations for all castes put together should not be breached.
Having examined these precedents, the high court said it was of the prima facie view that the state had failed to adhere to the 50 percent ceiling prescribed by the Supreme Court. By issuing GO Ms. No. 9, providing 42 percent reservation to OBCs, the total reservations in local bodies had been raised to 67 percent — “thereby breaching the ceiling of 50 percent as laid down by the Supreme Court in Vikas Kishanrao Gawali,” the court observed.
While the state invoked Article 243 of the Constitution to argue that courts cannot interfere once elections have been notified — pointing out that the local body election notification was issued on 29 September— the Bench clarified that its interim order does not halt the election process. Instead, it has stayed only the impugned government orders that increased the reservation percentage for OBCs.
The Bench made it clear that it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the rival contentions at this interim stage, which would be addressed at the time of final hearing.
Accordingly, the court ordered an interim stay on the operation of the three GOs. It directed the state to file its counter affidavit within four weeks and allowed the petitioners two weeks thereafter to file their replies. The matter has been posted for final hearing on 3 December 2025.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
