HYDERABAD: A division bench of the Telangana High Court adjourned the hearing on the PIL challenging the municipal election notification issued by the State Election Commission (SEC) to Monday. The petition was filed by Congress leader and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy.
When the matter first came up for hearing on Thursday before the bench comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A Abhishek Reddy, the petitioner’s counsel C Damodar Reddy sought an adjournment to 2.30 pm stating that the senior counsel D Prakash Reddy, who will be appearing in the present case, was held up in another court. Denying his request, the bench adjourned the case hearing to January 6.
The petitioner had sought the court’s directions to reschedule the elections notified on December 23, 2019. He said that notifying the election schedule itself went against the provisions of the Telangana Municipalities Act, and if the SEC was permitted to conduct elections, then the candidates in respect of reserved wards would be prevented from filing nominations.
The SEC has issued the notification along with the schedule for conduct of polls to the urban local bodies (ULB) from January 1 this year without notifying the reservations to the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled Caste, backward classes and women in the State.
‘Govt failed to finalise reservations’
Though the final notifications for the division of municipalities and municipal corporations into wards were published on December 17 last year, the authorities concerned have deliberately failed to finalise and declare the reservations to the categories of ST, SC, BC and women, said Uttam Kumar Reddy in the PIL