HYDERABAD: Directing the State Election Commission (SEC) not to issue municipal election notification till Tuesday evening, a division bench of Telangana High Court on Monday directed the commission to submit election manual, Telangana Municipalities Act, rules and regulations and related material before it on Tuesday. The SEC was scheduled to issue the poll notification on Tuesday.
“In a democratic setup, a contesting candidate should be given sufficient time to take a decision to run for an election. Furnish the entire chronology of dates, election manual, rules and regulations before us tomorrow. We will not allow you to sleep this night”, the bench told the SEC counsel.
The bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy passed the order in the PIL filed by Congress leader and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy, challenging the SEC notification issued on December 23, 2019 for conduct of elections to municipalities and municipal corporations in the State. The petitioner MP sought court directions to the authorities concerned to reschedule the election schedule saying the notification is contrary to provisions of Telangana Municipalities Act.