SC to hear plea challenging T’gana local polls on Oct 6
The Supreme Court will hear a petition challenging Telangana's local elections over OBC reservation uncertainties, with implications for the election schedule.
The Supreme Court on Saturday admitted a petition challenging the upcoming local body elections in Telangana on the basis of uncertainty in the implementation of the recent government directive mandating 42% reservations for other backward classes (OBCs) in the state, people familiar with the matter said.
Petitioner Vanga Gopal Reddy challenged the state high court’s order of September 27 facilitating the State Election Commission to announce the schedule for the conduct of local body elections, while deferring the hearing on the quota extension to October 8.
The court posted the plea for hearing on Monday, before justice Vikram Nath.
The Congress government in Telangana recently issued an administrative order seeking to provide 42% reservations for the OBCs in local body elections, even as a bill passed by the state legislature to that effect remains pending with governor Jishnu Dev Varma for approval.
Based on the government order, the SEC on September 29 announced the schedule for the conduct of elections to the rural local bodies between October 9 and November 11 in five phases.
It declared that the model code of conduct in all the districts, except Hyderabad, had come into effect immediately.
State election commissioner I Rani Kumudini said the elections for MPTC and ZPTCs would be held in the first two phases, and elections for gram panchayats would span all three phases.
The nomination process for Phase I would begin on October 9, with polling taking place on October 23, she said, adding that the final phase of polling would be held on November 8.
While the counting of votes would be conducted on the same day for sarpanches and ward members (gram panchayats), the counting for MPTC and ZPTCs would be conducted on November 11 after the completion of the panchayat elections, she added.
According to Gopal Reddy‘s plea, the election cannot be held without verifying the legal validity of the 42% quota for the OBCs. He argued that despite the court’s previous judgment that reservations should not exceed 50%, the Telangana government was pushing forward with measures that defied it.
Meanwhile, as the election schedule draws closer, all parties are working out their campaign strategies.
The Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) on Saturday asked district party units to shortlist prospective candidates and send three names for every seat in the local body elections by Sunday.
Senior Congress leader and state IT minister D Sridhar Babu, who held a meeting of the party leaders in Vikarabad and Ranga Reddy districts on Saturday, called for complete coordination among party leaders and workers, leaving no room for internal differences during the election process.
“The candidate selection will be finalized only after conducting ground-level surveys in each constituency. While the opinions of MLAs and constituency In-charges will be duly considered in the selection process, the final decision will rest with the party high command,” he added.
On the other hand, Telangana Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president N Ramachander Rao also directed party leaders to finalize candidate names by Sunday, asking for three names for each seat.
A BJP leader said the selection of candidates for zilla parishad territorial constituencies will be done by the state committee, while the responsibility for the candidates for mandal parishads will be entrusted to district-level core committees.
Meanwhile, Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) working president K T Rama Rao on Saturday also instructed party leaders and cadre to prepare for local body elections in an appropriate manner.
The selection of candidates is expected to be completed by next week, according to people aware of the matter.
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