Hold GHMC polls only after enumeration of Backward Classes voters: Telangana Congress

HYDERABAD: The Congress has demanded that the elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) should be held only after a fresh enumeration of Backward Classes voters and finalisation of BC reservation of wards based on their population.
In a letter to state election commission and chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, Congress national spokesperson Dasoju Sravan said the TRS government had unscientifically fixed BC reservations to its political advantage in 2016 GHMC elections. Now the TRS is trying to continue with the same reservations even in the ensuing polls to the civic body by making amendments to the relevant provisions of GHMC Act during special session of the assembly on Tuesday.
“Telangana state was formed with sacrifices of SCs, STs, OBCs and minorities who comprise 90 per cent of the population. Just because the TRS government has a majority, it is all set to suppress aspirations of the downtrodden. Opinions of all the stakeholders should be taken before making amendments to GHMC Act. A scientific survey of OBC voters has to be done before conducting elections to Greater Hyderabad, Warangal and Khammam municipal corporations. Or else the government will have to face backlash from OBCs," Sravan said.
The OBCs have already been betrayed by the TRS in panchayat elections as 34 per cent quota for OBCs was not implemented. “Not just the OBC census but even the categorisation of OBCs should be done based on which reservation of wards should be done. There are 113 OBC communities in Telangana of which 100 castes did not get any political representation till now. They have not even become sarpanches or ward members,” Sravan said.
He cited the example of neighbouring Karnataka state which has done OBC categorisation and urged the Telangana government to follow the same model to ensure justice to OBCs.