Telangana High Court has refused to impose an interim stay on the Panchayat elections to be held in the state. This decision came during the hearing of petitions challenging the government order (GO 46) regarding reservation in Panchayat elections. This stance of the court has brought great relief to the State Election Commission, which is busy preparing to take the election process forward.
The bench asked a tough question?
The bench headed by Chief Justice Ujjwal Kumar Gupta asked a tough question to the petitioners. The court asked, “Do you want to cancel the entire elections just because the sub-category reservation has not been implemented?”
This question of the court indicates that it is not in favor of stopping the election process without any strong and logical basis.
Election Commission lawyer’s arguments
Meanwhile, the counsel for the State Election Commission, while presenting his arguments, said that once the election notification is issued, the extent of interference of the courts is very limited. He also revealed that during the earlier hearing on GOs with 42% reservation, the Commission had clearly said that it wants to conduct the elections under the old system only, until the final decision on the new reservation rules is taken.
This matter is related to the state government increasing reservation for Backward Classes (BC) in Panchayats from 34% to 42%. The petitioners claim that there are many legal shortcomings in the process of implementing this reservation and the sub-categories have not received justice.
The court made no interim order
However, the High Court has not yet passed any interim order in this case and the hearing is going on. Now all eyes are on the next order of the High Court, which will decide the direction of rural politics of the state.