There is a hidden fact for continuing these halts. MST travelers like students, traders and working people have benefitted from these halts, so they got extended over years. Except for peak holiday/marriage season, most stations see simply GS or MST sales. Absolutely not a reservation booked for any day for months! But many people use those trains everyday from such stations. OK, if having such people as passengers hurts railways earnings, but it is difficult to remove them as they at least provide some income instead of nothing to railways.
Think like this -- If a train is delayed by 3 hours or more OR cancelled altogether, reserved passengers get a 100% refund. GS get refund with simply a cut of 10....
more... What about MST holders? They've paid for a month's worth of journeys but if trains are late/cancelled, they don't get any refund. This is the reason why not too many halts can be removed. You can call these halts as political or social. Majority will stay.
Anyway, for faster, secure and more comfortable journey, railways is introducing 150 new trains on most popular routes which may never see any political stoppages than the commercial ones. Only yesterday, one such train got added -- ADI Tejas.