The Andhra Pradesh high court has directed the State government to hold elections to local bodies as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court within three months.
In a judgment here on Tuesday, the court also instructed the government to ensure that the reservations would not cross 50 percent and send a report to the Election Commission regarding the reservations. A bench comprising Chief Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Justice Vilas V Afzal Purkar issued these directions to the government.
Some civil societies had filed a petition pleading that reservations should not exceed 50 percent as per the Supreme Court’s guidelines in the local body elections. After hearing the arguments, the court gave its ruling on Tuesday. The State government urged the high court to exempt the 50 percent limit so that Backward Classes could be provided reservations. While the Advocate General Sudarshan Reddy represented the government, Krishna Mohan represented the petitioners. Eminent lawyer Bojja Tarakam also argued the case on behalf of some BC organizations.
The court has also permitted the government to take the 2001 census into consideration, as the 2011 census data was not available. Local bodies are being manned by special officers as the terms of elected representatives ended last year and the government had not conducted elections.
TDP LEADER HAILS HC VERDICT
TDP MLC Yalamanchili Babu Rajendraprasad has welcomed the “good decision” of the High Court on the conduct of the local bodies’ elections in the State.
Speaking to the media in Vijayawada today, Rajendraprasad said that works relating to sanitation, drainage system and roads came to a standstill due to the rule by the special officers. He demanded that the State government conduct the local bodies polls within three months and prove its sincerity. (NSS)