The elections to gram panchayats, mandal parishads and zilla parishads would be held before November, if one were to believe the statement of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Speaking at Indiramma Baata programme in Khammam on Friday, the Chief Minister said the government would conduct local body elections within the next three months. The government has already filed an affidavit in the high court, expressing willingness to conduct the local body elections by reserving seats to the BCs as per the 2001 census.

Apparently, the Chief Minister has realized that the more the delay in the conduct of local body elections, the more will be the damage to the party. The Congress party is already facing the criticism that the elections are being delayed because it fears complete rout as has happened in the recent by-elections. However, if the local body elections continue to get delayed, it would result in a sort of frustration among the party workers at the grass-root level and there could be large scale migration of party workers into the rival parties, sources say.