Don't exceed 50 percent reservation in local body polls, Andhra Pradesh High Court tells government

Amaravathi: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Monday (March 2, 2020) directed the government not to exceed the reservations quota to more than 50% in local body elections. The judgment of the court came on a petition filed by B Pratap Reddy and others challenging the reservation of seats in local body elections.

A bench headed by Chief Justice Jitendra Kumar Maheshwari and Nainala Jayasurya gave the judgment in the matter. The High court further asked the government to give details of the OBC's quota within a month.

In his argument, the petitioner lawyer said that reservations over 50 percent were against the Supreme Court directives. He contended that the reservations were to be made as per the population census, but that the officials made reservations of backward classes without any proper data.

Defending the State, Advocate General S Sriram argued that the Supreme Court permits 50 percent reservation in special cases and further said that 34 percent reservation in case of OBCs was given only after taking the population into concern. 

He also noted that even though there is 48.13 percent of OBC voters, the reservation was restricted to only 34 percent.

After hearing the arguments of both sides, the High court bench reserved the order.