Congress livid at govt for notification on civic polls sans ward division

Hyderabad: The Congress has come down heavily on the government for announcing the schedule of the elections to the municipalities while the ward division was not completed.

PCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy, working president Ponnam Prabhakar, AICC secretary Sampath, AICC spokesperson Dasoju Sravan and MLA T Jagga Reddy faulted the government for announcing the schedule while the ward division and finalisation of the reservations was going on.

Uttam Kumar Reddy said that doubts have been cropping up on the integrity of the State Election Commission as it issued the schedule without completing ward division and reservations processes. He said that the schedule has been leaked to the ruling TRS.

Ponnam Prabhakar said that they would not go to the courts to stop the elections. He said that all they want is issuing of notification as per the rules.

He questioned the SEC about what it told the court and what it has done. Sampath said the court has clearly told the SEC to issue schedule only after the announcement of the wards and reservations.

The SEC has violated the directions of the High Court. The TRS is afraid of losing the municipal elections, he added.

He wanted to know to whom the political parties should turn if they have objections on the reservations. He wondered how the Minister can say that they would announce the candidates before issuing of notification.

Sravan made it clear that the TRS did not have a right to seek votes in the municipal elections. Though the Municipal Administration department earmarked thousands of crores of rupees, releases have not crossed hundreds of crores of rupees.

He alleged that TRS and the BJP which are in power at the state and central level respectively have failed to give funds to the municipalities.

The Centre did not give any funds to Warangal which has been announced as the Smart City. Jagga Reddy said that the SEC Commissioner Nagi Reddy has to pay heavy price if Congress comes to power. He alleged that Nagi Reddy has been acting like worker of the TRS.