Telangana HC hears plea to defer GHMC polls till wards are redrawn by population

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Monday heard a writ petition seeking to halt elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) until fresh delimitation of wards is carried out on population rather than voters.

Challenge to Section 6 of TS Municipalities Act

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Aparesh Kumar Singh and Justice GM Mohiuddin was dealing with the plea filed by Syed Saleem and another.

The petition questioned the validity of Section 6 of the Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019, which prescribed ‘voters’ as the basis for delimiting municipal wards.

Petitioners cite Constitutional Mandate

Counsel for the petitioners, Barkath Ali Khan, argued that the GHMC has ignored the mandate of GO 570, dated November 6, 1996, issued under the GHMC Act, 1955.

The GO requires ward boundaries to be fixed based on population. Adopting ‘voters’ instead of ‘population,’ the counsel contended, is inconsistent with Article 243S of the Constitution and Section 8(b) of the Delimitation Act, 2002.

Reference to other states’ practices

To strengthen his argument, the counsel pointed out that municipal legislations in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab and Arunachal Pradesh uniformly adopt ‘population’ as the guiding principle for delimitation. Telangana, by contrast, is the only state relying on ‘voters,’ he said.

Court calls for Govt instructions

After hearing the submissions, the Division Bench directed the Government Pleader for General Administration and the Government Pleader for Law and Legislative Affairs to obtain instructions on the issue within three weeks.

Relief sought

The petitioners have requested that the Hyderabad District Collector, the GHMC Commissioner and the State Election Commission be restrained from announcing elections to the GHMC until new wards are delimited on population averages.

The matter was adjourned for three weeks.