Telangana assembly passes bills to increase OBC reservation to 42%
The assembly also passed the Telangana Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Bill, 2025, seeking to categorise Dalits into three groups for reservations in education and employment.
The Telangana assembly on Monday passed two bills to hike the reservation for other backward classes in education, employment and local bodies to 42%, fulfilling a major campaign promise based on the recently concluded caste survey but also triggering controversy over the breached 50% cap on caste-based reservations.
The two bills –– Telangana Backward Classes (reservation of seats in rural and urban local bodies) Bill, 2025 and the Telangana Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes reservation of seats in educational institutions and of appointments or posts in the services under the state) Bill, 2025 –– were passed through a voice vote, after a brief discussion.
The assembly also passed the Telangana Scheduled Castes (Rationalisation of Reservations) Bill, 2025, seeking to categorise Dalits into three groups for reservations in education and employment.
“It is my honour to announce the longest pending demand of the subaltern groups since Indian Independence, the yearning of our brothers & sisters belonging to the backward castes, on being counted & recognised in an official census - has finally found deliverance,” chief minister Revanth Reddy said.
“We are now resolving to ensure 42 percent reservations for this group in all walks of life - education, jobs and employment & political representation,” he added.
Telangana’s current reservation matrix sets aside 29% for OBCs in education and employment, and 23% in local bodies. The quantum for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and economically backward classes is 15%, 6%, and 10%,respectively.
If implemented, the new bills will take the total quantum of caste-based reservations in the state to 63%, far beyond the Supreme Court-mandated 50%. To be sure, a slew of states such as Tamil Nadu have already breached the 50% cap.
The hike was in the works after Reddy tabled the findings of the caste survey in the assembly on February 4, making Telangana only the second government in independent India –– Bihar was the first, in 2023 –– to declare the results of a caste count.
Telangana’s survey found that OBCs accounted for 56.33% of the population, followed by Scheduled Castes at 17.43% and Scheduled Tribes at 10.45%. Other castes made up 15.79% of the population. Muslim constituted about 12.56% of the state’s population, of which OBC Muslims were about 10.08%.
Reddy called upon the leaders of opposition parties to come together to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to bring amendments to the Constitution to enable the implementation of 42 percent reservations for OBCs.
According to G Niranjan, chairman of Telangana Backward Classes Commission, the 42% quota for OBCs in education, employment or the local bodies, cannot be implemented unless it amends the Ninth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. “It was done in the case of Tamil Nadu in 2006. Since the Centre introduced 10% quota for economically weaker sections through a Constitutional amendment in 2019, though the overall percentage exceeded the 10% quota fixed by the Supreme Court, the Telangana government feels an amendment to the Constitution again will help the OBCs get 42% quota,” he said.
The chief minister said that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had made the promise to hike OBC reservations to 42% in 2023. “That is why our government launched the caste survey to enumerate the OBC percentage,” he said.
Reddy expressed gratitude to all sections of people, who actively participated in the caste survey. “The previous government sent a proposal to the governor seeking to increase OBC reservation to 37% in the local bodies. Our government is withdrawing the earlier proposal and sending a new proposal of 42% reservation for OBCs in education, employment and political opportunities,” he said.
He called upon all the parties to come together and take necessary legal assistance to increase OBC reservation to 42%. “We shall also request Rahul Gandhi to raise this issue in Parliament,” he said.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi lawmaker Gangula Kamalakar referred to the Supreme Court’s judgement from 1992, which fixed a cap on caste-based reservations at 50%. Pointing out that the Supreme Court had explicitly stated that the comprehensive caste survey be conducted scientifically, he cautioned that if the process was not followed correctly, the OBC reservations bill could risk ending up like that in Bihar.
Kamalakar also submitted amendments to the OBC reservations bill, urging the state government to include a 42% quota for OBCs in state government contracts and the constitution of the OBC sub-plan in the bill. He added that it was now the responsibility of Revanth Reddy to get the passed legislation implemented, by bringing pressure on the Centre.
“I am prepared to stage a hunger strike in New Delhi if chief minister A Revanth Reddy and BC minister Ponnam Prabhakar join me in ensuring that the Centre amends laws and approves 42% reservation to BCs,” he said.
In 2023, Bihar had raised the quota for SCs, STs, extremely backward classes (EBCs), and OBCs in educational institutions and government jobs from 50% to 65% after a caste survey showed that these groups formed roughly 84% of the state’s population.
But the Patna high court struck down Bihar’s decision, underlining that merit could not be completely sacrificed at the altar of reparations in a verdict that delivered a blow to the state government.
Backward caste welfare minister Ponnam Prabhakar urged the BRS not to raise suspicions over the survey and to have confidence in the commitment of the state government to implement a 42% quota for OBCs in Telangana.
Siddipet MLA T Harish Rao said that it was now the responsibility of Rahul Gandhi to push 100 Congress MPs to fight for achieving OBC reservations in Telangana and across the country.
AIMIM floor leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, who offered his support for the OBC reservations bill, demanded that 8% of those reservations be given to “backward groups in Muslims” in the BC-E category.
The bill on sub-categorisation of the scheduled caste quota for education and employment was prepared on the basis of an interim report submitted by a one-man commission headed by retired high court judge justice Shameem Akhhar on dividing the SC quota into three groups.
The SC sub-categorisation bill seeks to divide 59 SCs into three groups for reservations, based on their social, economic, and educational status. Group-I includes as many as 15 sub-castes which are the most backward and neglected castes, accounting for 3.288% and the commission recommended that they should receive 1% reservation.
Group-II consists of 18 moderately benefited sub-castes of SCs with a population of 62.748% and they would get 9% reservation; and Group-III includes as many as 26 better-benefited sub-castes of SCs accounting for 33.963% of the SC population and they should be allocated 5% quota.
The major recommendations of the commission included dividing the 59 Scheduled Castes into three groups based on their social, economic, and educational status. Group-I included as many as 15 sub-castes which were seen as the most backward and neglected castes, accounting for 3.288% of the population; the commission recommended that they should receive 1% reservation.
Group-II consisted of 18 sub-castes of SCs with a population of 62.748%; the commission said they were moderately backward and would get 9% reservation. Group-III included as many as 26 relatively better-off sub-castes of SCs accounting for 33.963% of the Dalit population; the commission said they should be allocated a 5% quota.
The decision was based on a landmark verdict last year by the Supreme Court, which ruled that state governments have the authority to create subclassifications within the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) for the purpose of preferential reservations.
By allowing subclassification, the top court opened the door for states to identify and provide targeted benefits to the most disadvantaged subgroups within the broader SC/ST categories, provided they base their decisions on empirical evidence and rational criteria. The decision by a seven-judge Constitution bench was passed with a 6-1 majority, with the majority overruling the apex court’s earlier decision in the 2004 EV Chinnaiah case, which had held that subclassification within SC/STs was impermissible as it treated these groups as homogenous classes.
If implemented, Telangana will be the second state to implement sub-classification of SC quotas after the top court’s verdict, after Haryana. Other states, such as Tamil Nadu, have implemented sub-quotas for Dalits earlier.