EC to decide today whether Telangana state polls can be held by year end
New Delhi, Sept 7 (IBNS): A day after Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's declaration of the dissolution of the state Assembly, the Election Commission on Friday will decide whether polls in the southern state can be held by the end of the year, media reports said.
The poll panel will decide whether Telangana state polls can be held along with due assembly elections in Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh by Dec, 2018.
On Thursday, Rao recommended dissolution of the state Assembly.
The Chief Minister met Governor ESL Narasimhan and informed him of the cabinet's decision to dissolve the state Assembly. The cabinet meeting took place in the afternoon.
The Governor accepted his recommendation. As a result of the move, the election will be preponed to the end of this year from the middle of 2019, as was originally scheduled.
The term of the Telangana Assembly ends in May next year.
The TRS on Thursday even announced a list of 105 candidates for Telangana elections, media reports said.
According to India Today, two sitting Telangana MLAs have been denied tickets and current Lok Sabha MP from Peddapalli B Suman will also contest the Assembly polls.
This is the first list of party candidates.
Rao spent the last two days at his Gajwel farmhouse, holding discussions with senior leaders and finalising the list of candidates and the election strategy.
He had said in the past that he would name party candidates in September. He had said that except for three or four MLAs, all the others would be renominated.
Rao had been hinting at such a move for weeks, but did not make any announcement.
At a massive rally on Sunday in the state capital, the TRS chief presented a report card of his government’s performance in the last four and a half years. He also dropped hints that the party may decide to de-link Assembly polls with the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
According to political observers, the TRS wants to de-link the Assembly election from Lok Sabha polls to evade any possible impact of Rahul Gandhi being projected by the Congress as the Prime Minister. With the BJP still not having significant sway in Telengana, the Congress is the only party perceived to be a potent rival of the TRS.
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