Telangana gears up for massive panchayat polls as Sep 30 deadline looms

SEC will complete election preparations and convene an all-party meeting to ensure that there is no delay in conducting the elections after the BC reservations are approved.

Hyderabad: With the Telangana High Court setting a deadline of September 30 for the completion of local body elections, the State Election Commission (SEC) and the Panchayat Raj Department have swung into action, accelerating groundwork for the massive electoral exercise. The term of the gram panchayats in the State expired in February last year.

An official notification is expected shortly after the 42 per cent reservation for backward classes is finalised. The Governor has sought legal opinion following the State government’s decision to issue an ordinance in this regard, in the wake of pending clearance for the BC Reservations Bills from the President.

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The delay in finalising reservations is reportedly the last administrative step before the election schedule is formally released. Simultaneously, the SEC will complete election preparations and convene an all-party meeting to ensure that there is no delay in conducting the elections after the BC reservations are approved.

Officials said MPTC elections are likely to be held first, followed by Sarpanch polls. While the previous gram panchayat elections were held in three phases in 2019, the SEC is yet to come to a conclusion on the number of phases for the upcoming polls. Sources said the Sarpanch elections are likely to be held in two to three phases.

Meanwhile, the Panchayat Raj department has already instructed all District Panchayat Officers (DPOs) to inspect the readiness of election materials at the mandal and village levels and submit their reports immediately. Fresh indents will be placed where necessary. Online training for mandal-level officers on election management, the Te-Poll app and other modules is already underway.

The State Election Commission directed the District Collectors and Zilla Parishad Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) to update polling personnel data, including returning, assistant returning, and presiding officers, prepared last year. They were also directed to submit detailed reports for police personnel required in their respective districts.

The Panchayat RajDepartment has already issued orders on the final number of seats to be contested, including 5,773 MPTC, 566 Mandal Parishad President (MPP), 566 ZPTC, and 31 Zilla Parishad (ZP) positions across the State. Elections will also be held for 12,778 gram panchayats and 1,12,694 wards.