Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has reportedly decided to hold Sarpanch elections, which have been delayed for a year, in the month of July and also given orders to the officials in this direction. It is known that the issue of Panchayat elections came up for discussion in the meeting of ministers during his visit to the joint Nalgonda district on Sunday.
The Chief Minister has been waiting to hold the elections for the implementation of 42 percent reservation for BCs in local bodies election, as was promised during elections. However, the issue is still pending and it may take a long time for a solution, he said to be decided to go ahead according to the old reservation formula.
The term of the governing bodies of local bodies and village panchayats in the state ended almost a year ago. The government is planning to hold these elections quickly and put the governance system in the groove in rural areas. The State Election Commission is likely to issue a detailed statement soon on issues such as the schedule of these elections, preparation of voter lists, and nomination process as per the orders of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
The villages are becoming weak due to not holding elections on time. Public health, sanitation, and drinking water systems have been crippled. There is no way to clean even the water tanks. Unless elected bodies are in charge, the Center will not release funds allocated by the Finance Commission. Elections were held for 12,848 gram panchayats in the state in 2019.
As 71 villages out of them were merged into Future City, Sarpanch elections were held in the remaining 12,777 villages. Since 50% reservation was implemented for women in the past, they will get half the seats this time as well. Previously, reservations were implemented in local body elections based on a population of 2.02 crore.
Now, as some villages have been merged into municipalities, the rural population has reached 1.90 crore. Accordingly, this time, there is a possibility of allocating 20-22% seats to BCs, 18-20% to SCs, and 8-10% to STs. Since the government has made a law to implement rotation, the BC, SC, and ST seats that existed earlier will now change. There is a possibility of allocating an SC seat to a BC or a general.