Local Body elections after completion of BC caste survey: Telangana CM

Hyderabad: Telangana chief minister Revanth Reddy on Wednesday said that local body elections in Telangana will be held after the Backward Classes (BC) survey will be completed. At a review meeting, he asked officials to start the BC social, economic and caste survey process in the state immediately.

“The officials briefed the CM about the procedures followed by Bihar, Karnataka and other state governments in the conduct of the BC social and economic caste survey,” said a press release from the Telangana chief minister’s office. The release added that the State Planning Department is being entrusted with the responsibility of the survey.

The Telangana chief minister directed chief secretary Santhi Kumari to appoint a senior IAS officer as the coordinator between the BC Commission and Planning department. “The CM directed the officials to complete the socio and economic survey within 60 days and the report should be submitted by December 9 this year,” stated the CMO release.

Revanth Reddy also said that the local body elections in Telangana will be held immediately after the completion of the survey. Government Advisor K Kesava Rao, chief minister’s Advisor Vem Narender Reddy, Principal Secretary V. Seshadri, and others were present at the meeting.

The BC survey report has been a matter of political consternation, as Backward Class communities have been demanding a higher share in reservations based on the claim that BC’s occupy a major chunk of the population in Telangana. Local body elections in the state are also pending, and will be important for the ruling Congress which will want to perform well on the local level against the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).