Telangana municipal election hurdles continue, as stay order granted in 81 Writ Petitions remain
By Newsmeter Network Published on 31 Oct 2019 4:57 PM GMT
Hyderabad: Recently Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao publicly announced the holding of municipal elections in the state very soon. However, vacating stay orders for elections in 77 municipalities, granted in 81 Writ Petitions filed in the Telangana High Court is going to be anything but easy. Moreover, it will not happen in a day or two as it is set to drag for some time.
Telangana Additional Advocate General J Ramachandra Rao made a mention before Justice Challa Kodandaram to urgently take up the hearing of these 81 cases and vacate the stay orders. The Division Bench headed by the Chief Justice had already dismissed the PILs filed on this issue, and the same order covers these Writ Petitions as well.
Several advocates representing the petitions vehemently opposed this submission of the Additional Advocate General. They contended that the matters in their individual Writ Petitions are different from the issues in the PIL and sought hearing of these Writ Petitions individually. They also claimed that the state government couldn’t vacate stay orders without filing counter-affidavits, and therefore, these cases must be taken up separately. They alleged that the AAG was misleading the Court by submitting that the PIL dismissal order is applicable to these cases as well.
Telangana State Election Commission held a meeting on Ordinary Elections to Municipal Corporations and Municipalities today. pic.twitter.com/cSzBxdAzaT
— IPRDepartment (@IPRTelangana) July 15, 2019
The judge said he would first see whether the Division Bench order covers these Writ Petitions. He would then decide whether to take each case individually or refer to the Division Bench. Although the cases are listed for hearing on Friday, they may not reach as they are at a distant serial number. Most likely, the cases will be heard by the single judge on Monday.
The CM hopes that as the PIL alleging irregularities in the conducting of elections to municipalities is dismissed, all hurdles will be cleared. After which the State Election Commission could issue notification for holding elections to these municipal bodies.
