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Hyderabad, November 25 (IANS) Gram Panchayat elections in Telangana will be held in three phases next month.
According to the notification issued by the Telangana State Election Commission on Tuesday, elections will be held for 12,728 sarpanch posts and 1,12,242 wards on December 11, 14 and 17.
State Election Commissioner I. Rani Kumudini said that the Model Code of Conduct has been implemented with immediate effect in the entire state.
He told that voting will be held from 7 am to 1 pm and counting of votes will be done from 2 pm on the same day.
A total of 1.66 crore votes from rural areas are eligible to cast in these elections.
The SEC reminded that the election notification was issued on September 29, but was later kept in abeyance.
Nominations for the first phase of elections will open on November 27, while the last date for withdrawal of nominations will be December 3.
Nominations for the second phase will be accepted from November 30, while the last date for withdrawal of candidature will be December 6. Nominations for the final phase of elections can be filed from December 3, while December 9 will be the last date for withdrawal of nominations.
SEC has provided 17.08 percent reservation in Gram Panchayats for Backward Classes (BC). Of the total 12,735 gram panchayats, 2,176 have been reserved for BC.
Among the 31 districts where elections will be held, Siddipet has the highest BC reservation at 26,772. In Bhadradri Kothagudem district, no gram panchayat has been reserved for BC.
On November 17, the Telangana Cabinet decided to hold gram panchayat elections only in December as the Rs 3000 crore grant from the Center will expire by March 31, 2026.
Since the tenure of the 15th Finance Commission is ending on March 31, 2026, if elections are not held before the deadline, the grant of Rs 3000 crore received from the Center to the Gram Panchayats will end.
It was announced that the decision to hold elections for Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC), Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC) and municipal corporations would be taken after the final order of the High Court on 42 per cent reservation for BCs.
As per the High Court order, local body elections should be held with a cap of 50 per cent of the total reservation for all categories.
The government had issued an order to give 42 percent reservation to BC and on the basis of this the election process also started in September. However, as soon as the High Court quashed the government order, the election process was suspended.
The government will decide on conducting MPTC, ZPTC elections after the court gives its final order on 42 percent reservation.
–IANS
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