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Judgment
Heard Sri O.Udaya Kumar, learned counsel for the petitioner, learned Government Pleader for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development and Sri N.Ashwani Kumar, learned Standing Counsel for State Election Commission appearing for the respondents.
Challenging the action of the respondents in reserving the office of Sarpanch, Vankaramunta Grama Panchayath, Nallamada Mandal, Sri Satya Sai District, in favour of Scheduled Caste (Women) without following the constitutional mandate of the rotation, the instant writ petition has been filed.
The petitioner contends that the majority of the population of the village belongs to the General category, while the population belonging to the Scheduled Caste community is comparatively a smaller proportion. Therefore, the office of the Sarpanch should have been kept open for the unreserved category.
Learned Government Pleader for Panchayat Raj and Rural Development appearing for the respondents has placed before the Court a copy of the written instructions dated 03.11.2026 received from the 5th respondent. A perusal of the same reflects as follows:
“Determination of Category-wise Sarpanch Offices (As per Section7(1)(a):
The total number of Gram Panchayats in Nallamada Mandal is 14. Accordingly, 50% of the total Sarpanch Offices, i.e., 7 offices, were taken as the maximum limit for reservation under ST, SC and BC categories.
The category-wise determination was worked out by applying the prescribed formulae as follows:
ST: ST population of the Mandal / Total population of the Mandal x Total number of Sarpanch Offices.
SC: SC population of the Mandal / Total population of the Mandal x Total number of Sarpanch Offices.
BC: BC voters of the Mandal / Total voters of the Mandal x Total number of Sarpanch Offices.
Based on the above calculation, the initial figures arrived at were ST-1.67, SC-1.56 and BC-7.65. Since the combined reservation under ST, SC and BC shall not exceed 50% of the total Sarpanch Offices, the BC allocation was restricted to 3 offices after allotting 2 offices each to ST and SC. Accordingly, the final category-wise allocation was determined as ST-2, SC-2, BC-3 and Unreserved-7.
Reservation of Office of Sarpanch (As per Section 8(1):
As per Section 8(2), The Gram Panchayats were arranged in descending order based on the sceheduled category-wise population/voter percentages. The reservations were allotted by following the prescribed order of priority, exclusion of Gram Panchayats already allotted to preceding categories and rotation of reservations, as applicable.
Reservation of Sarpanch Offices for Women (As per section 8(4):
After determining the category-wise number of Sarpanch Offices, 50% of the Sarpanch Offices in each category were earmarked for women. While allotting the women reservations, the prescribed rotation procedure and the descending order of women population percentage of the eligible Gram Panchayats were taken into consideration.
Reservation of Vankarakunta Gram Panchayat:
As per the reservation statement prepared for the 2nd Ordinary Elections, 2026, Vankarakunta Gram Panchayat was shown under the SC(W) category. The said allotment has now been questioned by the petitioner in W.P.No.31918/2026, seeking allotment under the Unreserved (UR) category.
The office of Sarpanch of Vankarakunta Gram Panchayat was reserved for the Backward Classes (General) (BC(G)] category and not for the General Category in earlier elections in 2020, as erroneously stated by the petitioner.
Further, the total number of offices reserved for the Scheduled Castes was determined in accordance with the prescribed criteria laid down by the Government.
Accordingly, the reservation of the office of Sarpanch of Vankarakunta Gram Panchayat was determined in accordance with Section 8(2), subject to the rotation of reservations prescribed under Section 9(1) of G.O. Ms. No. 154, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development (E&R) Department, dated 12.10.2026.”
Learned counsel for the petitioner prays for a direction to the respondent authorities to consider and pass appropriate orders on the representation dated 19.10.2026 submitted before the 4th respondent.
Having regard to the contentions advanced and the representation of the petitioner is pending for consideration before the 4th respondent, this Court deems it appropriate to dispose of the writ petition with a direction to the 4th respondent to consider and pass appropriate orders on the representation dated 19.10.2026 of the petitioner. Needless to observe that pending passing of orders on the said representation will not preclude the authorities from proceeding further in conducting of elections.
Accordingly, the Writ Petition is disposed of. There shall be no order as to costs.
As a sequel, all pending miscellaneous applications shall stand closed.