HYDERABAD: In a significant development regarding the impending panchayat elections, the Telangana government on Monday told the Hyderabad High Court that it has decided to conduct elections to panchayat raj institutions pursuant to order passed by a single judge earlier. As per the single judge order, panchayat elections should be held in the State by Jan 10 next year, it noted.
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In this regard, Telangana additional advocate general J Ramachandra Rao made submissions before a division bench comprising Chief Justice TBN Radhakrishnan and Justice SV Bhatt dealing with a petition filed by the Telangana State Election Commission (SEC) seeking a direction to the State government to finalise reservations to Backward Classes (BCs) and other categories for holding panchayat elections.
On October 11 this year, a single judge directed the Telangana SEC to take steps for conducting panchayat elections within three months. The judge, in his order, said that the Election Commission has failed to discharge its duties properly. In a democracy, it is mandatory to conduct polls, and failure to conduct elections for various reasons was against the Constitution.
In this background, the SEC moved the High Court with a plea to direct the State government to finalise the reservations within a specific time frame. The SEC pointed out that there was no response to its letters addressed to the State government on the issue. On Monday, the counsel for SEC urged the court to grant permission to the commission to go ahead for conducting panchayat elections. At this stage, Telangana AAG told the court that the government has decided to hold elections as per the order of the single judge.