Supreme Court says no to hike in reservations in Andhra Pradesh local body polls

Andhra Pradesh: In a sigh of relief to the YSRCP government led by chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, the Supreme Court on Wednesday has given the green signal to the conduction of local body elections with 50 per cent reservations for weaker sections.

Supreme Court division bench head Justice Arun Mishra upheld the earlier judgement of the state high court's ruling of not allowing the total reservations in the local bodies to exceed 50 per cent. In this backdrop, the Supreme Court which heard a batch of the petition directed that the state should stand by the earlier judgement delivered by Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court in 2010 in K Krishna Murthy vs Union of India case, which states that the total percentage of reservations including those for SCs, STs and BCs should not be more than 50 per cent.

These petitions were filed by TDP leaders K Ram Mohan Naidu, Kollu Ravindra, Konakalla Narayana and Palla Srinivasulu. They argued that the government could enhance reservations under special circumstances. However, the Supreme Court ruled that the reservation quota should not exceed 50 per cent.