Andhra Pradesh’s local body elections have moved closer to notification after the State Election Commissioner said the election schedule will follow a government gazette finalising reservations for the polls. The announcement came after the Supreme Court dismissed the state government’s appeal against a High Court ruling that struck down orders providing 34 per cent reservation for backward classes in local bodies.
State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha said the government would first issue the gazette notification finalising reservations. The election notification and schedule would be released after that process is completed. He was speaking informally to the media on Friday, according to a report by Deccan Chronicle.
Punetha also said the electoral roll used for the elections would depend on the status of the Special Intensive Revision, or SIR, exercise in Andhra Pradesh. If the revision is completed before the election notification is issued, the polls will use the revised voter list. If it is still incomplete, the existing electoral roll will be used.
The sequence places the reservation notification at the centre of the election timetable. Punetha said a meeting with political parties would be held after the reservations are finalised, and that the election notification would be released only after that consultation.
The Supreme Court’s ruling has removed the state’s immediate legal challenge to the High Court decision. A bench comprising Justices Dipankar Datta and Sheel Nagu said the High Court had correctly found that the state lacked the empirical data required to justify reservation beyond the 50 per cent ceiling.
The case concerned two government orders that provided 34 per cent reservation for backward classes in local body elections. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Andhra Pradesh government, argued that the decision was supported by demographic and empirical material and that the High Court had no reason to reject the data as unreliable.
The legal dispute has affected the administrative preparation for elections to local bodies, which form the elected layer closest to residents and oversee civic functions at the local level. The choice of electoral roll could also affect the final voter base if the SIR exercise is completed between the reservation decision and the release of the election notification.
The election process will therefore proceed through three immediate administrative steps: finalisation of reservations through the government gazette, consultation with political parties and release of the election notification and schedule. The State Election Commission has not announced a polling date in the information available.
The next formal milestone is the state government’s gazette notification on reservations. The subsequent political-party meeting will determine when the State Election Commission issues the election notification.
