Telangana Congress chief confident of local body polls as per schedule

Hyderabad, Oct 8 (IANS) Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) President Mahesh Kumar Goud has exuded confidence that the process for elections to rural local bodies in Telangana will begin on Thursday as scheduled.

The State Election Commission is set to issue a notification on Thursday for the first phase of polls to Zilla Parishad Territorial Constituencies (ZPTCs), Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituencies (MPTCs).

The first phase of elections is scheduled to be held on October 23.

However, the filing of two petitions in the High Court challenging 42 per cent reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) has created uncertainty on the poll notification.

The High Court, which took up the hearing on the petitions, adjourned the case to Thursday afternoon.

Though the petitioners pressed for a stay on the poll process, the court refused to grant the stay and posted the case to 2.15 p.m. on Thursday for further hearing.

The TPCC chief expressed confidence that the nomination process for the polls would begin as per the schedule. He was also confident that the High Court would uphold the Government Order, providing 42 per cent reservation for Backward Classes.

He told media persons that the government presented strong arguments in support of the Backward Class reservation. He said the caste survey was conducted after 90 years, and based on its report, the government provided 42 per cent quota to Backward Classes.

Stating that the government is sincere on the Backward Class reservation, Goud accused the opposition BJP and BRS of conspiring to deprive Backward Classes of the enhanced quota.

He was also confident that the Congress party would win 90 per cent of local bodies.

Elections to ZPTCs, MPTCs and Gram Panchayats are scheduled to be held in five phases in October-November.

Elections to MPTCs and ZPTCs will be held in two phases on October 23 and 27, while Gram Panchayats will go to polls in three phases on October 31, November 4 and November 8.

Over 1.67 crore people will be able to cast their votes in these elections.

Votes polled in ZPTCs and MPTCs will be counted on November 11, while counting in gram panchayats will be taken up after the polling.

Elections will be conducted in 565 mandals in 31 districts. Polling will be held for 565 ZPTCs, 5,749 MPTCs, 12,733 gram panchayats and 1,12,288 wards.

--IANS

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