Telangana gears up for local body elections in new year

This phased electoral exercise will encompass elections for Panchayats, MPTCs, ZPTCs, municipalities, and municipal corporations

Hyderabad: Telangana is gearing up for a fresh round of political action in the New Year, as the State government has expedited arrangements for local body elections, beginning with the gram panchayat polls after the second week of January. This phased electoral exercise will encompass elections for Panchayats, MPTCs, ZPTCs, municipalities, and municipal corporations.

In preparation for upcoming local body elections, the Congress government has accelerated the pre-election process by introducing recent legislative amendments in the Panchayat Raj and Municipal Acts. These include altering the period for reservation rotation from every 10 years to every five years, ensuring each mandal has at least five MPTC seats, and incorporating 80 villages into urban bodies. Additionally, 12 new municipalities have been formed, and two upgraded to corporations, signaling significant administrative reorganisation ahead of the elections.

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Simultaneously, the government is considering creating 200 new gram panchayats across districts of Adilabad, Asifabad and Mulugu. Requests from MLAs, Ministers, and MPs have led to proposals for new panchayats, which are expected to receive approval via a special ordinance. The elections for these new panchayats may be conducted alongside the existing ones, raising the total number of gram panchayats in Telangana to 13,191.

The reservation process for Backward Classes (BCs) is underway, adhering to a Supreme Court-mandated triple-test criterion. The dedicated BC commission is preparing the reservations after receiving data from the State’s comprehensive household survey. The government will approve the commission’s report before submitting it to the Election Commission, which will then release the election schedule.

The ruling Congress is reportedly focusing on implementing key promises, such as Rythu Bharosa benefits, pending payments for former sarpanches, and new ration cards, aiming to bolster public goodwill ahead of the polls. On political front, both the Congress and the BRS have already intensified meetings with the grassroot level cadre, directing them to reach out to the voters and also widely tour their areas.

While the Congress is focusing on luring voters with promises, the main opposition BRS is concentrating on the failures of the government on various fronts compared to its regime under leadership of former Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.

Meanwhile, the State Election Commission also expedited the preparations, with plans to reportedly hold the gram panchayat elections in three phases, using ballot papers. Pink ballot papers will designate Sarpanch candidates, while white ones will represent ward members.

The State Election Commission has prepared 70,000 ballot boxes, sourced from Karnataka and Chhattisgarh, to facilitate the polls. Telangana, home to 12,815 gram panchayats and 1.14 lakh wards, has 1.67 crore rural voters. Elections will also decide representatives for 538 ZPTC and 5,817 MPTC positions. If the number of local bodies are increased, arrangements will be revised accordingly, the officials said.

District administrations have already intensified preparations, releasing village-wise voter lists and polling station details. Nodal officers have been appointed to oversee the election process, ensuring its smooth conduct across all regions.