Hyderabad: Elections for the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) board members were scheduled to be held on April 30, but word has spread that they may be called off and that an order to that effect has been passed.
"The order is yet to reach us, but we're mostly sure that it will be postponed. We're hoping to have clarity on the same by Thursday/Friday," said candidates who are in the fray for the SCB polls. Although candidates supported by the BRS seek election postponement, the BJP is pushing for the polls. With no word on the postponement of elections yet, candidates are working hard to identify the major issues plaguing the area and fight the polls on important issues.
Individual candidates will run in the elections, although they will be supported by major political parties, like the BRS, BJP, and the Congress.
While the BJP's election platform is focused on development, BRS is demanding a merger of the SCB and the GHMC, and the Congress claims that promises made, such as free water delivery, have not been kept.
Meanwhile, Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) Minister K.T. Rama Rao wrote to Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, demanding that the government of India intervene immediately to restore the deleted names of 35,000 electors from eight Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) wards. Rao stated that the act is entirely illegal and unconstitutional because none of the electors whose names were eliminated from the voter list were issued a show reason notice before their names were deleted.
"These electors and their families have been residing in Secunderabad Cantonment Board limits over the past 75 years. Such incidents are intimidating these electors since such an act will pose an indirect or direct threat to their identity. They are citizens of India residing in Telangana State," the minister stated.
He went on to state that, like every other responsible person in the country, the SCB voters have shown the utmost sincerity in carrying out all of their responsibilities, including paying their power and water bills. He stated that these voters had exercised their right to vote in several elections, including the SCB, Assembly, and Parliamentary polls.
