Civic polls without quota cut likely

HYDERABAD: The state government has decided to go ahead with the local body elections without compromising on the reservations being provided to BCs, SCs, and STs.Notwithstanding the Supreme Court verdict on reservations in local bodies in Karnataka, the Cabinet sub-committee on reservations has  recommended the state government and the state Election Commission to conduct local bodies elections without a cut in reservations.A representation would be submitted to the state Election Commission by June 7. Talking to newsmen here on Monday, panchayat raj minister and Cabinet sub-committee chairman K Jana Reddy hoped that chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy would respond positively to the sub-committee’s recommendation and that a final decision would be ratified at the next cabinet meeting.In fact, the sub-committee has taken various views into consideration before coming to a conclusion on conduct of elections, hence there was no need to have an all-party meeting on the issue. “We (cabinet sub-committee) have no time to seek court’s directions on the issue and there is a need to fulfil Constitutional obligations by conducting elections within the stipulated time. Already, elections were conducted thrice in accordance with the Act and this will be the fourth time,’’ he added.Replying to a query, Jana Reddy said: “It’s our decision to go ahead with the polls and tomorrow we may request the court to permit if anybody files a case on the issue. As per the existing Act, elections would be held on party basis,’’ he noted.Meanwhile, social welfare minister P Satyanarayana said that reservations to all communities with be continued in the local body elections including 50 per cent reservation  to women. In fact, the Supreme Court gave a judgment in a case involving the Karnataka government. “The verdict was not in general and specifically applies to Karnataka.   Hence, our legal experts said that there is no need for Andhra Pradesh to implement the Supreme Court verdict in the state,” he observed.In its judgment, the Supreme Court stated that all types of reservations should not exceed 50 per cent. However, the AP government provided 34 per cent reservation to BCs in local body elections, 18.3 per cent to SCs, and 8.25 per cent reservation to STs, which amounts  to 60.55 per cent as against the Supreme Court verdict of 50 per cent.