YSR Congress Party Rajya Sabha Member V. Vijayasai Reddy has appealed to the Chief Election Commissioner to hold the ensuing Rajya Sabha elections in Hyderabad, the common capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Mr. Reddy met Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat at his office in New Delhi and submitted a memorandum.
Mr. Reddy said that 23 MLAs, and three MPs who were elected on YSR Congress Party ticket had defected to the Telugu Desam Party in the “gravest assault on the Constitution and democratic spirit”.
Besides this, 70% of the ZPTCs and MPTCs again elected on YSR Congress Party ticket also defected to the TDP.
In a manner that was unprecedented four YSRCP MLAs, who defected, were inducted into the ruling party’s Cabinet, he explained. The names of all the MLAs who defected were still listed under YSRCP on the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly website.
Disqualification sought
The YSRCP had filed petitions under Tenth Schedule seeking disqualification of the elected representatives, but the Speaker has not taken any action, Mr. Reddy complained.
The ruling Telugu Desam Party was now trying to get more MLAs and MPs to defect in a bid to get the third Rajya Sabha seat, elections for which were “round the corner”.
He alleged that the Telugu Desam Party was using the “carrot and stick” method to get leaders to defect.
Under Article 324 of the Constitution, the Chief Election Commissioner was vested with the powers take steps to conduct free and fair elections.
