Hyderabad: The Telangana cabinet will meet on 17 November to determine the next steps for conducting local body elections. Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy will chair the meeting at 3 PM at the Secretariat. He earlier asked ministers to present a detailed action plan for taking the election process forward.
The state government had announced 42% reservations for Backward Classes based on a caste enumeration. However, the Centre did not approve the BC Bills, and the Governor withheld consent for amendments to the Panchayat Raj Act, which would have enabled raising the reservation cap to 50%.
High Court ruling forces clarity on reservation limits
The High Court directed the State Election Commission to conduct the elections within a 50% reservation limit. A petition later alleged that the commission failed to comply. The court will hear the matter again on 24 November.
Officials stated that the government previously received time extensions due to pending decisions. Now, the cabinet must clarify its legal position before the court. Earlier, the state had issued a notification with 42% BC reservations and even accepted nominations for one day. But the High Court invalidated that structure, directing the state to revise its reservation matrix.
In response, the government may either request more time from the Centre or proceed under the 50% ceiling. The Telangana cabinet is also expected to consider a phased approach—beginning with non-party sarpanch elections and deferring MPTC and ZPTC polls until legal clarity improves.