Hyderabad: The Telangana government has ended the uncertainty surrounding local body elections by deciding to conduct Gram Panchayat polls by December.
The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy at the Secretariat on Monday. The meeting, which began at 1600 hours, lasted more than five hours and cleared several key proposals.
Briefing the media late at night, Ministers Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy, Adluri Laxmankumar, G. Vivek Venkataswamy, and Government Advisor Mohammed Shabbir Ali said the government had opted to hold Panchayat elections first rather than proceeding with MPTC and ZPTC polls.
They explained that nearly Rs 3,000 crore due to the state under the 15th Finance Commission would lapse by March 2026 if the village-level elections were not completed in time. With governance in many villages weakening over the past months, the government felt an urgent need to restore the administrative structure through timely elections.
Follow for more details: munsifdaily.com
Ponguleti said that reservations would be finalised strictly within the 50 per cent ceiling mandated by the Supreme Court. He added that the dedicated commission’s earlier exercise recommending 42 per cent reservation for BCs had stalled due to court cases, and the government has now sought a fresh report from the commission on the reservation matrix for sarpanches and ward members.
The report is expected within a week, after which the cabinet will approve the final schedule. The government will take a call on the MPTC and ZPTC elections only after the ongoing court cases related to BC reservations are resolved.
In another major decision, the cabinet approved the Telangana Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration, Social Security and Welfare) Act–2025, aimed at providing legal recognition, social security and a welfare structure for nearly four lakh gig workers in mobility, food delivery, e-commerce, logistics and related sectors.
Labour Minister Vivek Venkataswamy said the new law will be introduced in the Assembly shortly and is intended to address long-standing concerns over job security, insurance, payments and work conditions faced by gig and platform workers.
Also Read: NDA steps up alliance drive in TN for 2026 Assembly polls
The cabinet also cleared several other proposals, including naming the SSRP Phase-2 Main Canal after former Minister Ramreddy Damodar Reddy, approving the Hyderabad Industrial Lands Transformation Policy (HILTP) to convert industrial land within the Outer Ring Road into multi-use zones, and finalising plans to host the Telangana Rising Global Summit–2025 on December 8 and 9 at Future City to mark two years of the Praja government. The government will also unveil the ‘Telangana Rising–2047’ vision document during the summit.
The state anthem ‘Jaya Jayahe Telangana’, written by the late poet Andesri, will now be printed on the first page of every school textbook. As a tribute to the poet, the government has decided to appoint his son Dattasai as a lecturer in a degree college and establish a memorial in Andesri’s name.
In a significant reform, the cabinet has formally removed the two-child restriction that previously barred individuals with more than two children from contesting local body elections.