Telangana High Court Stays Mahabubpatnam Panchayat Elections, Questions Reservation Logic

The Telangana High Court has temporarily stayed the panchayat elections in Mahabubpatnam of Mahabubabad district. The court raised serious objections to the manner in which ST reservations were allocated in the panchayat.

The judge questioned how the government decided to reserve one sarpanch post and three ward member posts for the Scheduled Tribes when the village has only six ST voters in total.

The bench further asked how representatives for the remaining wards would be selected if all six ST voters were located in a single ward. The court sought clarification on whether the actual ground realities were taken into consideration while determining the reservation system.