The YSR Congress on Friday demanded in the Rajya Sabha that the reservation for the Other Backward Classes be raised from 27 per cent to a figure that matches their population.

According to the 1931 census conducted by the British, OBCs made up 52 per cent of India’s population. Castebased enumeration had been done again in 2012 but the data was not released.

Now that the Supreme Court has held that the ceiling of 50 per cent total reservation across categories is flexible, the YSR Congress’s V. Vijaysai Reddy has demanded that OBCs be offered quotas commensurate with the population, which is 52 per cent according to last-available figures.

Reddy pointed out that Scheduled Castes received 15 per cent reservation and Scheduled Tribes 7.5 per cent in keeping with the percentage of the population they constitute according to the 1931 data.

“After the judgment of the Supreme Court in the EWS (Economically Weaker Sections) case, now there is no legal hurdle to increase the reservation for backward classes to match their population share. They constitute more than 50 per cent of the population. There is no reservation for OBCs in Parliament and the Assemblies. I urge the government to increase their reservation to match their population share,” the MP said.

G. Karunanidhy, general secretary of the All India OBC Employees Federation, said the Mandal Commission had in 1980 supported 52 per cent reservation for OBCs but recommended 27 per cent because of a Supreme Court judgment.

In the M.R. Balaji vs State of Mysore case in 1962, the apex court had held that total reservation should not exceed 50 per cent. In the Indira Sawhney judgment of 1992, the court had again laid down that total reservation should not exceed 50 per cent, barring certain extraordinary situations.

In 2019, Parliament enacted a constitutional amendment to provide for 10 per cent quota in the EWS category, taking the total reservation to 59.5 per cent. This was challenged in the top court, which held that the ceiling of 50 per cent was flexible.

“The reservation for OBCs should be raised to 52 per cent as supported by the Mandal Commission. If this is not acceptable, the government should conduct a caste census and accordingly revise the reservation for OBCs,” Karunanidhy said.

Shashank Ratnoo, an advocate in the Supreme Court, said the demand for increasing quotas would grow as the ceiling had been made flexible. Reddy also demanded reservation in the higher judiciary.