Cabinet to take final call on local polls on Aug 30

Hyderabad: The State government will take a final call on conducting local body elections in Saturday’s (August 30) Cabinet meeting. With the government having decided to convene the Assembly session from August 30, the Cabinet will finalise the agenda for the session.

As the State Election Commission has issued notification to publish electoral rolls of all Gram Panchayats, the government is ready to hold the local body elections in September, official sources said.

The Cabinet will discuss the contentious issue of 42 per cent quota for Backward Classes in the local body elections, although the two related bills have been pending before the President of India for the last three months.

“During the meeting with legal experts in New Delhi on Monday, Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy sought some clarifications on the implementation of the BC quota by issuing a Government Order (GO) without an act and legal consequences in case the opposition files a petition challenging the orders in the court”, sources said.

Revanth Reddy is awaiting the opinion from Congress MP and legal expert Abhishek Singhvi on the implications after issuing a GO to enforce BC quota in the local body elections. In the meanwhile, the government’s plan to enforce the BC quota in the ensuing elections can fructify only through a legal procedure, officials said.

Aiming to gain political advantage in the local body elections, the Cabinet will also finalise an action plan on presenting the PC Ghose Commission report on Kaleshwaram during the five-day Assembly session. The CM has already announced that action could be against all those responsible for the mismanagement of the multi-crore lift irrigation project.