Telangana MLC bypolls: Congress on backfoot?

HYDERABAD: Like always, it seems the Congress party will wait until the last minute before it announces the names of candidates for byelections to three vacant Local Authority Constituencies (LAC) in the Legislative Council. Since the schedule was announced a few days ago, the party has claimed the Election Commission had done so in a ‘hurried’ manner. The polls will be held for the constituencies of Rangareddy, Warangal and Nalgonda.

With hardly five days left for filing nominations, the clock is ticking fast. But Congress seems to be struggling to put up a fight. Their lack of enthusiasm can be explained by the fact that most electors — corporators, ZPTCs, MPTCs — are aligned with TRS.

Speaking to Express, TPCC vice-president Mallu Ravi said there is still time, while saying that the party expects the polls to be postponed. “There is yet time to announce candidates. A list of aspirants has been prepared. But we expect the polls will be postponed so this list will not be much use,” he said.
Ravi said he hoped newly-elected ZPTCs and MPTCs would also be able to vote.

If the polls go on according to the current schedule, they will not take their oath before the elections, hence not eligible to vote.

The party’s main issue is that the TRS has a clear majority among current representatives. They said most Congress, TDP and other Opposition parties had been ‘purchased’ by TRS since the last elections were held. Congress hopes it will do better in the upcoming local body polls, and this will help it fight the MLC byelections in a better way.

Party insiders also said it is unlikely any candidates will volunteer to fight an election they are bound to lose. “In such a case, they will be forced to contest,” admitted a party leader.“Loyal, and hard-working leaders will be given the a chance,” added Ravi.

Who’ll get the ticket?
Party insiders said Komatireddy Rajagopal Reddy and K Muralidhar Reddy, whose resignations from the Council have led to these byelections, will have a major say in who will get the tickets

Uttam writes to CEC, calls byelections ‘illogical’
Hyderabad: TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, claiming that notifications to MLC elections could not be given without releasing a voters’ list. “Such an election would be illogical,” he said. Reddy was commenting on the schedule for byelections to three vacant MLC posts in the Council. “Every candidate has to be proposed by at least 10 electors. How is it possible if the list of voters is not published,” he said. Reddy said the ECI’s failure to publish a voters’ list, candidates looking to get elected had lost two days of their time.   The TPCC chief said State Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar had the ruling party’s (TRS) in mind.