Hold panchayat polls before Jan 10: HC

​Hyderabad: A Division Bench of the Hyderabad High Court on Monday gave green signal for the conduct of panchayat elections in the State of Telangana. The bench directed the government to conduct elections to panchayats before January 10, 2019. 

The advocate representing the Election Commission of India informed the court that the new government supposed to be assuming power next week should extend its fullest cooperation to ensure successful conduct of panchayat elections within the stipulated time.

Advocate representing the State government has informed the court that as the most contentious reservation issue has been settled, the government does not see any reason for non-conduct of elections before the stipulated time.  

Panchayati elections were long overdue in the State of Telangana, however, failure to ascertain the voters belonging to the BC community has come in the way as a primary impediment for the conduct of panchayat elections in the State.

It may be recalled that the Supreme Court of India lately has pronounced a verdict in which it has categorically held that the cumulative reservation at panchayat level should not exceed 50 per cent and the state government of Telangana has approached the Hyderabad High Court against this decision.