Decks cleared for local bodies polls

Decks have been cleared for holding elections to the Panchayat Raj institutions in the state with the High Court declining to stay the election process at this juncture. The court on Tuesday dismissed a writ petition filed by one Ram Mohan Reddy challenging the government’s decision to reserve 60.55 per cent of the seats in the local bodies to backward classes, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

The existing term of the local bodies will end by next month. State Election Commissioner, Ramakanth Reddy, said that it would take at least five days to take stock of the situation and issue an election notification.