Mandated 50 percent quota denied, Congress fails women too in local body poll reservations

The Congress government in Telangana has allotted only 45.41 percent of gram panchayat seats to women, falling short of the mandated 50 percent under the Panchayat Raj Act. This is lower than the 49.09 percent extended by the previous BRS government in 2019.

Hyderabad: After backward class communities, women too have received a raw deal in reservations for the forthcoming gram panchayat elections in the State.

Under the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act, 50 percent of seats for both ward members and sarpanches across SC, ST, BC and unreserved categories must be reserved for women through a draw of lots.

---

However, after completing the revised reservation process, the Congress government has provided only 45.41 percent of seats for women.

This comes at a time when the previous BRS government had extended 49.09 percent reservations to women in the 2019 local body elections.

The State has 12,760 gram panchayats, and notification for elections has been issued for 12,728 panchayats. Thirty-two panchayats with 292 wards were exempted due to High Court stay orders.

Of the 12,728 panchayats going to polls, women should have received reservations in 6,364 panchayats. Instead, reservations were assigned in only 5,780 panchayats, leaving women without the chance to contest as sarpanches in 584 panchayats.

Even in Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Minister D Anasuya’s home district of Mulugu, women lost out. The district has 146 panchayats, of which 73 should have been reserved for women, but only 65 were allotted.

Defending the reduced reservation, officials said the mandal was taken as a unit for sarpanch reservations and the gram panchayat for ward member reservations.

For example, in a mandal with 15 villages, seven would be reserved for men and seven for women, while the remaining one village was left unreserved, they claimed.

Of the 1,12,242 wards, women were entitled to reservations in 56,121 wards, but many were denied these opportunities as well.

According to data shared by the State Election Commission, the total rural electorate stands at 1,66,55,186, comprising 85,12,455 women, 81,42,231 men and 500 categorised as Others.

Despite women outnumbering men by over 3.70 lakh, the Congress government has failed to ensure even the mandated level of reservation.