The Telangana High Court on Monday directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to put on hold issuing of the municipal election notification till Tuesday evening.
A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice A. Abhishek Reddy passed the interim direction after hearing arguments in a PIL plea over announcement of reservation of wards to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Backward Classes and women. The bench will hear the matter first on Tuesday morning.
While former Advocate General C.V. Mohan Reddy appeared for the Telangana SEC, senior lawyer D. Prakash Reddy argued for the petitioner. The bench instructed both the lawyers to present chronological order of the events connected to the PIL along with the rules governing municipal polls and the election manual.
Earlier in the day, the petitioner’s counsel made a mention about the PIL stating that the SEC was likely to issue election schedule on Tuesday and they had sought deferment of the same. The CJ took up the matter after lunch break. Observing that the SEC and the State government should work in tandem on municipal polls issue, the bench asked whether the election manual was being followed in toto or parts.
Presenting his arguments, D. Prakash Reddy said the SEC had first announced the election schedule on December 23, 2019 and was planning to issue the notification on Tuesday. He said it should be the other way round and the action of the SEC was in violation of sections 195 and 243 of Telangana Municipalities Act-2019. He contended that failure of the government to announce reservation of wards till issuing of election notification was depriving aspirants belonging to SC, ST, BC and women sufficient time to contest.
The bench noted that it would be difficult for a reserved category candidate to secure caste certificate and other papers to complete formalities of filing nominations. Mohan Reddy contended that there was no need for a person to have caste certificate to contest the polls. He or she can file a declaration stating that they belonged to a specific reserved category.
A candidate should know well in advance if his or her ward was reserved to a specific category, be SC, ST, BC or women to prepare for the election, the bench said. “There has to be some certainty. In democracy one should be given sufficient time to contest an election. Running for an election is not a cakewalk,” the bench remarked.
When the SEC counsel, while replying to a query from the bench, said that election notification would be issued on Tuesday, the bench directed the SEC to put it on hold. The bench said the SEC can take a call on the matter after adjudication of the plea by it.
