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Telangana HC Declines To Halt Panchayat Polls, Citing Article 243-O

Reserved seats without eligible candidates will go to fresh elections after the current schedule finishes.

Overview

  • The division bench of Justices P. Sam Koshy and Suddala Chalapathi Rao held that courts cannot intervene once the election notification is issued.
  • The court noted flaws in how minimum population norms were applied to reservation allotments but said this does not justify stopping the polls.
  • The State Election Commission reported that nominations for the first two phases are complete and the third phase process is underway.
  • Petitioners challenged reliance on 2011 census data and cited villages such as Mahmudapatnam, where ST reservations were assigned despite very few ST voters.
  • The bench dismissed a separate plea that named 29 IAS officers as respondents and recorded that any seats left vacant will be re-contested in consultation with the government.