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Hyderabad, Oct 9 (IANS) Hours after the Telangana High Court stayed the state government’s order (GO) providing 42 per cent reservation to backward classes in local bodies, the State Election Commission suspended the election notification till further orders.
The State Election Commission (SEC), which had issued notification for rural local bodies elections on September 29, said on Thursday night that the notification for elections to Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTC), Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTC) and Gram Panchayats has been postponed till further notification.
State Election Commissioner Rani Kumudini made the announcement after the High Court stayed the notification of GO and rural body elections related to 42 per cent reservation.
A division bench of Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin passed the interim order after a two-day hearing on the petitions challenging the backward class reservation.
The bench adjourned the hearing for six weeks.
It directed the state government and the State Election Commission to file a comprehensive counter affidavit in four weeks.
It gave two weeks’ time to the petitioners to file their reply.
The State Election Commission had announced elections for rural local bodies in five phases.
The process of accepting nominations for the first phase of elections started on Thursday.
According to the polling schedule announced on September 29, elections for ZPTCs, MPTCs and gram panchayats were to be held in five phases in October-November.
The MPTC and ZPTC elections were to be held in two phases on October 23 and 27, while the elections for Gram Panchayats were to be held in three phases on October 31, November 4 and November 8.
More than 1.67 crore voters were eligible to vote in these elections.
The Telangana High Court had earlier directed the SEC to complete the election process on or before September 30.
The SEC had filed a petition praying for an extension of 45 days.
The state government on September 26 issued a GO to reserve 42 percent seats and posts in local bodies for backward classes.
The state government issued the GO as two bills passed by the Assembly on August 31 were still awaiting the Governor’s assent.
The Telangana Municipal Corporations (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Telangana Panchayat Raj (Third Amendment) Bill, 2025 were passed to increase Backward Class reservation in local bodies to 42 per cent by removing the 50 per cent cap on quota for all categories.
Earlier in March, the state assembly had passed two bills to increase backward class reservation to 42 per cent in education, employment and local bodies.
However, both the bills have not yet received President Murmu’s approval.
–IANS
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