HYDERABAD: The
Congress has written a letter to the Telangana State Election commissioner C Partha Sarathi urging him to postpone the municipal polls until the intensity and magnitude of coronavirus pandemic comes down in the state.
Stating that there is a talk in political circles that election schedule could be announced in a day or two and that polls are likely to be held on April 30,
Telangana Congress election committee convenor G
Niranjan urged the state election commissioner not to announce the poll schedule keeping in view the huge surge in Covid-19 cases and related deaths.
“In this alarming situation, we request you to not issue any schedule or notification to conduct elections in a hasty manner and request you to not put the lives of people particularly voters and election machinery at risk,” Niranjan said.
He appreciated the efforts of the state election commission which tried its best to conduct the elections in time and approached the high court informing the delay on the part of the state government. This forced the government to complete delimitation of wards.
Nevertheless, conduct of elections has been delayed as special officers have been appointed to the urban local bodies after the end of the term of elected bodies respectively, Niranjan told reporters.
“As there is already a delay in conduct of elections, intimate the state government and the high court about the present pandemic situation and take a decision to conduct the elections after restoration of normalcy in the state,” Niranjan urged the election commissioner in his representation.