High Court Tells Telangana to Clarify Rural Poll Schedule

Hyderabad:The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the state government to inform it by November 24 when it proposed to conduct the rural local body elections.

The court observed that it could understand the factors involved in conducting the elections, but they would not obviate the timeline mentioned in terms of Article 243E(3) of the Constitution that the elections ought to have been completed before the expiry of six months from the date of dissolution of the local bodies.

A division bench of the High Court comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice G.M. Mohiuddin was dealing with a petition filed by Renuka Surender, advocate from Mancherial district, who challenged the State Election Commission’s (SEC) notification dated October 9, which put the election process on hold, following the High Court`s stay on GO 9 which had enhanced reservations for the Backward Classes (BC) communities for the polls.

Senior counsel G. Vidyasagar, appearing for the SEC, said that the commission was ready to conduct the elections and was waiting for the schedule to be notified by the state government. He proposed that the elections can be conducted in local bodies that were not reserved, as the issue of the BC quota was yet to be decided.

The court questioned whether it was possible to conduct the elections piecemeal. Replying, the senior counsel submitted that the earlier election schedule was proposed in three phases and that the stalemate would continue otherwise.

The court questioned government counsel Shazia Parveen as to what instructions the government had given with regard to conducting the elections, when the SEC was awaiting the state’s response.

When government counsel submitted that the state was preparing to hold the polls, the bench asked for the time period. Government counsel sought another week to reply. The court observed that if the government counsel believed that a positive outcome was possible by then, the court would give it a week. “But (you) have to come with the right answer,” the court told government counsel.

The bench observed that the court could understand that the decision had to be taken at a competent level and that were other factors involved. But, such issues do not preclude the timeline of conducting elections.