Telangana High Court asks State when it is planning to hold polls

On Friday, the High Court directed the Telangana Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to inform the court as to when the State will hold elections to the Bhadrachalam gram panchayat, within four weeks, failing which the Chief Secretary has to appear before the court in person.

The Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili heard the public interest litigation filed by Sondi Veeriah, a Tribal activist from Bhadrachalam, seeking a direction to the State government and State Election Commission to hold elections to gram panchayat of Bhadrachalam.

Vasudha Nagaraj, counsel for the petitioner, informed the court that the State government has shown scant interest in holding elections to the gram panchayat of Bhadrachalam, thereby depriving the rights of the tribals living there. The State government has upgraded the gram panchayat in Bhadrachalam to municipality through the Municipalities Act, but the Telangana Municipalities Act has no application to the Scheduled areas of the State.

On the other hand, the Standing Counsel for the State Election Commission informed the court that it is the State government which has to take a decision as to whether the areas where the elections are to be held fall under gram panchayat or under the municipality, after which the State has to send the request to State Election Commission to hold the elections. Without this decision, the SEC cannot hold elections.

Though the SEC has addressed many letters to the State government on this issue several times, there was no response from the government.

After hearing the contentions of the Counsel for the petitioner and the SEC, the Chief Justice Bench directed the Chief Secretary to inform the court within 4 weeks as to when will the State take a decision to hold elections to the gram panchayat of Bhadrachalam within as this issue was pending for the last five years, failing which the Chief Secretary has to appear before it in person.