HYDERABAD: The state Cabinet on Saturday decided to hold local body elections in September by implementing 42% reservation for Backward Classes (BCs). The meeting, chaired by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy at the Assembly Committee Hall, also resolved to present and pass a bill on Sunday amending the Panchayat Raj Act, 2018, to lift the existing 50% ceiling on reservations.
In another key decision, the Cabinet recommended the nomination of Telangana Jana Samithi (TJS) president Prof M Kodandaram and former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin to the Legislative Council under the Governor’s quota.
The move follows a recent Supreme Court decision striking down the earlier nominations of Kodandaram and Amer Ali Khan as MLCs under the Governor’s quota, while giving the state Cabinet the freedom to restart the process. The Cabinet has now re-nominated Kodandaram, while replacing Khan with Azharuddin.
Briefing reporters along with I&PR Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, BC Welfare and Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said: “After considering the high court order to conduct elections by September-end, the legal opinions obtained by the government and Cabinet sub-committee, as well as the views expressed by political parties in the Assembly, we have decided to hold local body elections next month with 42% reservations for BCs. Reservations for SCs and STs will be provided based on the 2001 Census.”
He reiterated the government’s commitment to implement the Kamareddy BC Declaration. “As part of it, a caste survey was conducted, and two bills providing 42% BC quota in local bodies were passed by the Assembly and sent for Presidential approval,” he explained.