Revanth Reddy has been hinting that the government may seek time from the High Court and conduct the elections later.
Published Sep 21, 2025 | 5:11 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 21, 2025 | 5:11 PM
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy
Synopsis: Facing a Telangana High Court deadline, the Congress-led government delays local body elections, grappling with implementing a 42% BC reservation amid legal and political risks. With no elected bodies since 2024, funds are stalled. CM Revanth Reddy eyes post-kharif polls to pacify farmers, but indecision persists as BJP and BRS target BC voters.
With the Telangana High Court’s deadline just nine days away, the Congress-led state government finds itself caught on the horns of a dilemma over when to conduct the local body elections.
At the center of the deadlock is the implementation of the promised 42 percent reservation for Backward Classes (BCs).
Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, during an informal interaction with journalists in Delhi recently, said he favoured holding the local body elections only after the Supreme Court delivered its ruling on the three-month time frame for governors and the President to take decisions on bills pending before them.
The Telangana High Court, in a recent judgment, directed the state government to conduct the elections by the end of September 2025 — just nine days away. Ever since, Revanth Reddy has been hinting that the government may seek time from the High Court and conduct the elections later.
While citing the pending case in the Supreme Court as the reason, party insiders admit that the Congress is facing headwinds at the grassroots. Farmers are angry over urea scarcity, and recent heavy rains have devastated agriculture across large parts of the state. Keeping this mood in mind, the chief minister is said to have decided to push the elections as far back as possible.
He is understood to believe that the situation would be more favourable after the kharif season ends and the rabi season begins. By releasing the second tranche of Rythu Bharosa to farmers, he hopes to placate them and secure their support if the elections are held after December — perhaps in January.
However, Revanth Reddy is under increasing pressure to conduct the polls, given the mounting delay. In Telangana, Gram Panchayats have been without elected bodies since January 2024, Mandal Parishads and Zilla Parishads since July 2024, and Municipalities since January 2025. With no elected bodies in place, central funds have also stopped flowing.
At a high-level strategy meeting chaired by Revanth Reddy on Saturday, 20 September — attended by Deputy CM Bhatti Vikramarka, ministers D Sridhar Babu and Jupally Krishna Rao, along with senior bureaucrats — proposals were considered to issue a government order (GO) enhancing BC reservations to 42 percent, despite possible legal challenges. But the meeting failed to take a decision.
They also discussed seeking more time from the High Court while awaiting the Supreme Court’s verdict. Here too, there was no consensus. The group finally decided to reconvene after three to four days.
This indecision is not merely bureaucratic; it is a high-stakes political gamble. If polls are held without the quota, the Congress risks alienating its BC base — potentially handing an advantage to the BJP and BRS, both of which have stepped up their outreach to BC communities. On the other hand, pushing ahead with higher reservations risks Supreme Court scrutiny, given the 1992 Indra Sawhney judgment, which capped all reservations at 50 percent.
Experts believe Revanth Reddy wants to be seen fighting until the last moment to secure statutory status for 42 percent BC reservations, before finally issuing a GO to enhance the quota and then going to the polls. This way, he could blame the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre for failing to provide the statutory backing for the Congress’s promise.
Telangana’s first local body elections after its formationn in 2014, held under the TRS (now BRS) government, capped BC reservations at 23–29 percent in rural and urban bodies. Riding on the euphoria of statehood, TRS swept over 90 percent of the seats.
Terms expired in 2019, and the quota was raised to 34 percent after amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act in 2018. Urban local body elections were held in early 2020, delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The BRS government, however, avoided breaching the 50 percent ceiling mandated by the Supreme Court, drawing criticism from BC groups who argued that, since they made up over half of Telangana’s population, they deserved proportional representation.
The Congress’s 2023 victory flipped the script. The party campaigned aggressively on BC empowerment, promising a caste census and proportional quotas. Soon after coming to power in December 2023, the Revanth Reddy government launched the Telangana Caste Survey in January 2024, presenting its report to the Assembly in October 2024. The survey pegged the BC population at 56.33 percent.
On 18 March 2025, the Telangana Assembly passed two key bills:
Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes, and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in Services under the State) Bill, 2025 — providing 42 percent BC reservations in education and jobs.
Telangana Backward Classes (Reservation of Seats in Rural and Urban Local Bodies) Bill, 2025 — providing 42 percent BC reservations in local body elections.
Governor Jishnu Dev Varma forwarded the two bills to the President on 30 March for assent.
As presidential approval was being delayed, the state cabinet, on 10 July, approved an ordinance amending the Panchayat Raj Act to remove the cap on BC quota in local body elections. However, the Governor has not yet cleared it.
Undeterred, the Telangana Assembly, on 31 August — the second day of the monsoon session — passed the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025, replacing the ordinance which was never promulgated. This bill too, is now pending with the Governor.
(Edited by Amit Vasudev)
