(1) The electoral roll for Gram Panchayat shall be prepared by the person authorized by the State Election Commissioner in such manner by reference to such qualifying date as may be prescribed and the electoral roll for the Gram Panchayat shall come into force immediately upon its publication in accordance with the rules made by the Government in this behalf. The electoral roll for the Gram Division of wards.
Preparation and publication of electoral roll for a Gram Panchayat.
1. Added by Act No.2 of 2025.
26 [Act No.5 of 2018] Panchayat shall consist of such part of the electoral roll for the Assembly Constituency published under the Representation of the People Act, 1950 as revised or amended under the said Act, upto the qualifying date, as relates to the village or any portion thereof:
Provided that any amendment, transposition or deletion of any entries in the electoral roll, or any inclusion of names in the electoral roll of the Assembly Constituencies concerned, made by the Electoral Registration Officer under section 22 or section 23, as the case may be, of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, upto the date of election notification, for any election held under this Act, shall be carried out in the electoral roll of the Gram Panchayat and any such names included shall be added to the part relating to the respective Ward.
Explanation:- Where in the case of any Assembly Constituency there is no distinct part of the electoral roll relating to the village, all persons whose names are entered in such roll under the registration area comprising the village and whose addresses as entered are situated in the village shall be entitled to be included in the electoral roll for the Gram Panchayat prepared for the purposes of this Act.
(2) The said electoral roll for a Gram Panchayat,-
(a) shall, unless otherwise directed by the Government, for reasons to be recorded in writing, be revised in the prescribed manner by reference to the qualifying date:-
(i) before each ordinary election; and
(ii) before each casual election to fill a casual vacancy in the office of the Sarpanch and member of a Gram Panchayat; and [Act No.5 of 2018] 27
(b) shall be prepared and published in any year, in the prescribed manner, by reference to the qualifying date, if so directed by the State Election Commission:
Provided that if the electoral roll is not prepared and published as aforesaid, the validity or continued operation of the said electoral roll, shall not thereby be affected.
(3) The electoral roll published under sub-section (1) shall be the electoral roll for the Gram Panchayat and it shall remain in force till a fresh electoral roll for the Gram Panchayat is published under this section.
(4) The electoral roll for the Gram Panchayat shall be divided into as many parts as there are wards so that each part consists of the voters residing in the concerned ward and for this purpose the electoral roll may be rearranged if such rearrangement is found necessary.
(5) Every person whose name appears in the part of the electoral roll relating to a ward shall subject to the other provisions of this Act, be entitled to vote at any election which takes place in that ward while the electoral roll remains in force and no person whose name does not appear in such part of the electoral roll shall vote at any such election.
(6) No person shall vote at an election under this Act in more than one ward or more than once in the same ward and if he does so, all his votes shall be invalid.
Explanation:- In this section, the expression “Assembly Constituency” shall mean a constituency provided by law for the purpose of elections to the Telangana Legislative Assembly.
28 [Act No.5 of 2018] Rearrangement and republication of electoral rolls.
12. Where, after the electoral roll for the Gram Panchayat has been published under sub-section (1) of section 11, the village is divided into wards for the first time or the division of the village into ward is altered or the limits of the village are varied, the person authorized by the State Election Commissioner in this behalf shall in order to give effect to the division of the village into wards or to the alteration of the wards or to the variation of the limits, as the case may be, authorize a re-arrangement and republication of the electoral roll for the Gram Panchayat or any part of such roll in such manner, as the State Election Commissioner may direct.
Identification of Backward Class voters.
13. The Government shall identify all the Backward Class voters. This activity shall be conducted as per the schedule issued by the Government which shall be not more than fifteen days.
Term of office of members.