Gram Panchayat polls: Telangana govt issues new GO with revised reservation criteria

The Telangana government has issued new reservation guidelines for Gram Panchayat elections through GO Ms 46, ensuring quotas stay within the 50% limit. The High Court will resume hearing the matter on Monday, with the election schedule likely on November 25 or 26

Hyderabad: The State government, which is gearing up for the Gram Panchayat elections, on Saturday issued guidelines on reservations for Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Backward Class communities, ensuring that the quota does not exceed the 50 per cent ceiling mandated by the Supreme Court.

In this regard, GO Ms 46 was issued on Saturday after the Dedicated Commission submitted its report on reservations to the government on Thursday. The report, however, has not yet been made public. At the same time, the latest order has now suppressed GO Ms 42, issued on September 26 this year, which proposed 42 per cent reservations for BCs in the panchayat elections and was stayed by the Telangana High Court, after its legal standing was challenged.

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There are 545 mandals, 12,760 villages and 1,13,534 wards in the State, with Ward Member and Sarpanch elections to be held in direct mode. Reservations will first be identified for STs, followed by SCs, BCs and women. Ward Member reservations for SC, ST and BC communities will be determined based on the Socio, Economic, Education, Employment, Political and Caste Survey (SEEPC) 2024, while Sarpanch reservations will be based on the 2011 census for SC and ST categories and SEEPC 2024 for BCs, according to the order.

As the State government had amended the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act 2018, reservation of seats and offices will be done on a rotation basis beginning from the ordinary elections held under the Act. The ensuing elections will be treated as the second ordinary elections.

However, elections to Gram Panchayats notified after the 2019 polls will be treated as first ordinary elections and earlier reservations implemented in such panchayats will not be considered, the order says.

With the hearing on the reservation issue in the local body elections scheduled to be continued in the High Court on Monday, officials said depending on the court’s direction, a report on reservations would be finalised and placed before the State Cabinet on November 25 for approval. The High Court has also asked the State government to specify a date for the local body polls on Monday.

Meanwhile, the State Election Commission held a meeting with district Collectors and senior officials earlier this week. There are indications that the election schedule may be issued on November 25 or 26, with polling likely to be conducted in three phases and completed before December 20.