Hyderabad: Municipal elections will have to be held in 149 days, going by the timeline given by Telangana High Court on Tuesday.
Dealing with three separate petitions regarding the urban local body elections, Justice P. Naveen Rao gave the government 119 days to complete the pre-poll process to facilitate the State Election Commission to conduct the elections. The court gave the State Election Commission 30 days to hold elections after the pre-poll process is completed. The term of the elected bodies ends on July 2.
The SEC had approached court alleging that that government was non-cooperative in making the necessary arrangements to hold elections. The SEC sought directions to the state government to complete the pre-election process like division of wards and finalising reservations.
Another petition was filed by Mr Jajula Srinivas Goud, president of the Telangana BC Welfare Association seeking a direction to the government and the SEC to start the election process.
Justice Naveen Rao asked additional advocate-general J. Ramchander Rao whether the state government would stick to the schedule submitted to the court by the principal secretary, municipal administration, who had sought 151 days.
On the reservation for Backward Classes candidates in elections, the government submitted that it would stick to the Supreme Court judgment in K. Krishna Murthy and others v Union of India, which says that under no circumstance will the aggregate reservation exceed 50 per cent.
Mr K.G. Krishna Murthy, senior counsel for the petitioners, urged the judge to direct the government to commence the process of elections. The cases were adjourned to six weeks.
