HYDERABAD: Telangana high court on Monday refused to grant any interim order in response to petitions challenging the delimitation and merger of new wards into existing GHMC wards. Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, while hearing around 80 petitions during a lunch motion, kept them open for final consideration, holding that the balance of convenience lay with the authorities.During the hearing on Monday, advocate general A Sudershan Reddy raised a preliminary objection to the maintainability of the petitions under Article 243ZG of the Constitution, which prohibits judicial interference in electoral matters. Senior counsel L Ravichander contended that the preliminary objection did not sustain in view of recent apex court rulings permitting judicial review even in delimitation cases and added that citizens would otherwise lack a forum to challenge arbitrary actions.The advocate general pointed out that over 5,000 objections had been considered in accordance with rules. In response, Ravichander argued that the seven-day timeline for objections was directory rather than mandatory.
