HYDERABAD: A Secunderabad Cantonment Board-based NGO, Cantonment Vikas Manch, has sent a legal notice to the Ministry of Defence and Secunderabad Cantonment Board challenging the notification of the recently issued election which are scheduled to be held on April 30.
The Cantonment Vikas Manch stated in the notice that the election notification was neither fair nor proper, as till date the Cantonment Bill 2020 is still pending before the Parliament, as well as the merger issue, is also under process. On February 17, the Ministry of Defence issued a notification directing the 57 cantonment boards in India including Secunderabad to conduct ordinary elections on April 30, 2023.
Challenging the election notification, the Cantonment Vikas Manch argued that the main objection was that the last ordinary board election was held on January 11, 2015, and the tenure ended on January 10, 2020.
But, immediately after the completion of the Ordinary Board Tenure, instead of issuing the election notification, the Ministry of Defence extended the tenure of the same board for further six months stating that the Cantonment Bill 2020 was pending before the Parliament for replacement of the Cantonment Act, 2006.
It was further represented that according to the same Act, the varied board tenure shall not be extended for more than one year. But, the Ministry of Defence has extended the tenure of the varied board for further six months on February 10, 2023.
Further, it was represented that, in response to the No Objection given by the Government of Telangana, the ministry has constituted an eight-member committee for the excision of civil areas of cantonments which is under process.
In this juncture, the election notification is null and void and against the spirit of the law. It was further represented in the Secunderabad Cantonment limits, SCB has deleted more than 30,000 votes without intimating to the voters/residents nor has explained the grounds.
‘Withdraw notification till all the issues resolved’
The Cantonment Vikas Manch, in its notice, asked the Defence Ministry to withdraw the election notification till all the issues are clarified and properly explained within seven days from the date of
receipt of this notice. The organisation has been agitating for the last two years demanding the merger of all the civil areas from the cantonment into the local governments.