Buoyed by the recent by-poll win in Hyderabad, the ruling Congress in Telangana is gearing up for the next political battle, with the arena shifting from urban to rural settings.
A meeting of the state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy today, decided to hold elections to the local bodies next month. The poll schedule will be announced by the State Election Commission soon. The decision follows a directive by the High Court to notify the schedule for the much-delayed local body polls.
While the Congress is elated over wresting the Jubilee Hills assembly seat from the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in the recent by-poll, the coming elections to the local bodies would be the first political litmus test for the government, which is facing public resentment over several unkept poll promises.
Important among them is the promised increase in the reservations for the Backward Classes in the local bodies to 42 per cent. The move is caught in a legal quagmire.
The High Court had stayed a Government Order on quota enhancement after petitions pointed out that implementing 42 per cent reservations would take the total reservation quota to 67 per cent, breaching the Supreme Court’s upper ceiling of 50 per cent. The state government then approached the Supreme Court, but the apex court advised it to return to the High Court for a final hearing.
The HC bench also criticised the government for citing the reservation issue to delay elections, even though the tenure of the local bodies ended in January 2024. Citing Article 243E of the Constitution, the court questioned the failure to hold polls within six months of the expiry of the term.
Referendum on the government
The term of the local bodies, including as many as 12,845 gram panchayats, 5,817 mandal parishad territorial constituencies (MPTCs) and 538 zilla parishad territorial constituencies (ZPTCs), ended on January 30, 2024 and since then, these local bodies have been under the administration of special officers.
One can call it a sort of referendum on the performance of Revanth Reddy and his government. In the last 18 months, the Congress government struggled a lot in implementing its pre-election promises due to a severe financial crunch.
Despite the constraints, the Revanth Reddy government has made efforts to implement some major welfare schemes, such as free bus travel for women in RTC buses, crop loan waiver to the extent of ₹21,000 crore, payment of increased amount of ₹12,000 per acre per year under ‘Rythu Bharosa’ scheme by spending around ₹18,000 crore, supply of LPG cylinders at ₹500 for poor women, free electric power for homes below 200 units consumption and payment of ₹12,000 per year to landless labourers under Indiramma Atmeeya Bharosa, besides ₹500 bonus on the MRP for paddy.
However, there are allegations that ‘Rythu Bharosa’ benefits have not reached all farmers last season. As a result, many leaders face backlash from constituents.
Several other issues might affect the chances of the Congress in the rural areas, where the local body elections are being held, such as non-release of panchayat raj funds, lack of proper infrastructure facilities and mounting arrears of the civil contractors forcing them to stop works.
The Congress, known for internal wrangling, is facing the same in Telangana, also.
Revanth Reddy is trying to cash in on the positive atmosphere created among the other backward classes (OBCs) due to the successful conduct of the caste survey early this year, and also the sub-categorisation of Scheduled Castes into three groups.
However, there are also concerns that the same caste survey might even prove counterproductive, since Revanth Reddy promised to provide 42% reservation for the OBCs in local bodies.
If it is not legally possible to give 42 per cent quota for OBCs in the local body elections, the party is contemplating 42% of the tickets to the OBC candidates.
Also read: SC issues contempt notice to Telangana speaker
Follow us
