HYDERABAD: The State Election Commission on Tuesday announced a fresh schedule for the Gram Panchayat elections. The polls will be conducted in three phases on December 11, 14 and 17 for 12,728 sarpanches and 1,12,242 wards in 31 districts.
However, elections will not be conducted for 25 Gram Panchayats in Mangapet mandal of Mulugu district, two in V Saidapur mandal in Karimnagar district and four in Enkoor mandal and one in Penuballi mandal in Khammam district, due to the orders of the high court.
The total reservation earmarked for Backward Classes in the upcoming elections is 17.087 per cent. Accordingly, 2,176 of the total 12,728 GPs have been reserved for BCs, as per the schedule announced by State Election Commissioner I Rani Kumudini.
It may be recalled that the SEC issued a notification for conducting Gram Panchayat, MPTC and ZPTC elections in September.
However, after the Telangana High Court stayed GO 9, which provided 42 per cent reservation for BCs in local bodies, the SEC on October 9 put the election process on hold until further orders.
Old reservation system for Gram Panchayat polls
Meanwhile, the state government decided to implement the old reservation system and conduct the polls only for Grama Panchayats, in order to ensure that around Rs 3,000 crore Central funds to panchayats would not lapse. The ruling Congress, however, decided to provide 42 per cent reservations to BCs on behalf of the party.
Elections will be conducted in the first phase for 4,200 sarpanch posts and 37,440 wards. The nominations for the first phase will be accepted from November 27. As many as 1.66 crore voters will exercise franchise for the elections.
Nominations for the second phase will be accepted from November 30 and for the third phase from December 3.
In the second phase, elections will be held for 4,333 sarpanch posts and 38,350 wards, while in the third phase, polling will be conducted for 4,159 sarpanch posts and 36,452 wards. Counting of votes and declaration of results will be held soon after the polls for each phase.
National Backward Classes Association president and MP R Krishnaiah said that injustice was done to BCs alleging that the BC quota was slashed from 42% to 22% in the upcoming elections.
He alleged that in many districts, even 10% reservations were not provided to BCs. Though there are demonstrations across the state demanding the implementation of 42% reservations to BCs, the officials did not even implement the 22% reservations in many districts, Krishnaiah alleged.
He said that in several places, the allocation of seats to BCs was below 10%, pushing the BCs into deep distress.
He explained that in Nagarkurnool district, out of 460 sarpanch posts, only 61 have been allotted to BCs. In Kotapalli mandal of Mancherial district, not a single sarpanch post has been reserved for BCs across 31 Gram Panchayats. In Adilabad district, out of 473 Gram Panchayats, only 23 have been allocated to BCs — just 11%, Krishnaiah said.
Khammam district has also not crossed even 10%, he added.
“According to available information, in 10 districts and 27 mandals, not a single sarpanch seat has been allotted to BCs. This is atrocious and the officials have fixed BC reservations without any scientific basis. They have treated the district as a single unit, instead of considering Assembly segment or mandal as a unit to calculate BC reservations,” Krishnaiah alleged.
He said that even Muslim reservation would be included in the 17 per cent. He blamed the officials for not implementing the existing 23% reservations.
In the 2019 Panchayat elections, BC reservations ranged from 18% to 22%. In the latest round, however, only 16% to 20% has been allocated, he alleged.
In many divisions and mandals, not a single sarpanch seat has been reserved for BCs, and compared to the previous elections, the quota has been reduced further, Krishnaiah said. He alleged that the BC quota was cut and the general category quota was increased.