Notification for Telangana Gram Panchayat Elections Likely on January 14

Hyderabad: The long-awaited notification for the gram panchayat elections is expected to be released on January 14, coinciding with Sankranti, official sources said here on Thursday. The elections are likely to be conducted in three phases in February, ending to the prolonged spell of special officers' rule that began in February this year when the tenure of the sarpanchs ran out on January 31.

The absence of elected bodies has led to the Centre halting 15th Finance Commission grants to gram panchayats, financially impacting sanitation, civic maintenance and development activities in rural areas. The state government has been working hard to expedite the election process to restore normalcy.

The government is proposing significant amendments ahead of the elections. A notable change is the plan to abolish the two-child policy for contesting in the elections. A Bill to amend the Panchayat Raj Act, 2018, and remove this restriction is set to be introduced during the Assembly session in December.

Following the gram panchayat elections, the government plans to conduct elections for mandal parishad and (MPTC) and zilla parishad territorial constituency (ZPTC) members. Their tenure ended on July 2.

The government also proposes increasing the minimum number of MPTCs required to elect mandal parishad presidents (MPPs) from three to five. A bill for the will be introduced in the Winter Session.

The report of the dedicated commission to finalise reservations for Backward Classes (BCs) in local body elections is expected by December 10, following the completion of a comprehensive caste census.

The elections will cover 12,751 gram panchayats, 538 ZPTCs, and 5,817 MPTCs.