Indian Courts Strike Down Backward Class Reservation Quotas
High courts in Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh struck down reservation quotas for backward classes, citing violations of the 50% total reservation ceiling.
Judicial bodies in two Indian states have invalidated reservation quotas for backward classes, ruling that the policies exceeded the 50% ceiling established by the Supreme Court of India.
On October 9, 2026, the Supreme Court of India dismissed an appeal by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, upholding a high court order that struck down a 34% reservation for Backward Classes in local body elections. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had introduced the quota on August 18 to fulfill a National Democratic Alliance election promise. The court found the state failed to provide empirical evidence to justify exceeding the reservation limit, ordering the state to proceed with elections within six weeks.
Simultaneously, the Madhya Pradesh High Court struck down the MP Public Services (Reservation) Amendment Act of 2019, restoring the Other Backward Classes quota from 27% to 14%. The court ruled the law, enacted by a previous Congress government, was unconstitutional and passed in undue haste. While appointments made between March 2019 and September 2022 remain protected, the court ordered that 13% of government posts previously held during litigation be filled by unreserved category candidates within three months.
The Congress party and OBC Mahasabha have announced plans to challenge the Madhya Pradesh ruling in the Supreme Court.
