Panchayat Elections Notification Likely In January

In the wake of the High Court directive, the Telangana State Election Commission has speeded up the process for holding panchayat elections in Telangana.

The Commission is preparing for the polls for 12,000 village panchayats, and will issue a notification in the first week of January. Following the High Court directive, the state government issued an ordinance to allow only 50% reservations. As a result, the BC quota got reduced by 11% from 34% in the last elections to about 23% now. Women will also have 50% of the seats reserved for them, which will be finalized on a lottery basis in a couple of days. The state government has sent to the Collectors of all the districts the details of reservations for SCs, STs, BCs and women in the panchayats for sarpanches and ward members. Accordingly, the district administration has geared up for the polls in the panchayats, and is awaiting a notification from the Election Commission.

The State Election Commission is likely to release the notification soon. On completion, the list of reservations will be sent to the Chief Secretary and the Panchayat Raj Principal Secretary, following which there will be a gazette publication at the district level.