High Court Orders Local Body Elections In 3 Months

The Telangana High Court today delivered its verdict on the long-pending local body elections in the State.

Justice T Madhavi Devi directed the State government and the State Election Commission to complete the process of ward delimitation within 30 days and conduct the Gram Panchayat elections within three months.

The Justice was hearing a petition filed by several former sarpanches challenging the non-conduct of the elections. The judgment was delivered today following arguments heard on Monday.

The petitioners' counsel argued that although the term of the sarpanches ended on January 31 last year, elections were still being delayed. Instead, the government had appointed special officers, sidelining the elected representatives. "This is a violation of the Constitution and the Telangana Panchayat Raj Act," they argued.

They also argued that the special officers, being engaged in other duties, were not addressing the local issues.

The petitioners said that many sarpanches had spent personal funds for development works, encouraged by the government's assurance of reimbursement through the State Finance Commission. However, the promised funds had not been disbursed, and the Central funds under various schemes were also pending. They urged the court to either expedite the election process or restore responsibilities to the former sarpanches.

The court asked both the government and the Election Commission about the delay in conducting the elections. Representing the State government, Additional Advocate General Imran Khan said that as per a Supreme Court ruling, Backward Class (BC) reservations in local bodies had to be finalised before elections could be conducted. He requested an additional month to complete this process. At this point, the judge intervened and asked why previous assurances regarding the elections had not been fulfilled.

Senior advocate G Vidyasagar, appearing for the Election Commission, argued that finalising reservations was the responsibility of the State government. He assured the court that once this was completed, the Commission could begin the election process, which would take around two months. However, the judge asked why the Commission had not acted earlier, especially when the court had already ordered timely elections. In response, Vidyasagar claimed that both reservation finalisation and logistical arrangements were the State government's responsibility.