By-polls to 10 assembly seats in Telangana July 27
By IANSMonday, June 21, 2010
HYDERABAD - By-elections to 10 Assembly seats in the Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh will be held on July 27, while the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) has decided to challenge in court the Election Commission’s decision against conducting polls in two other constituencies.
The Election Commission Monday announced that by-polls will be held to Sirpur, Chennur (SC), Mancherial, Yellareddy, Nizamabad (Urban), Koratla, Dharmapuri (SC), Huzurabad, Siddipet and Warangal West Assembly constituencies.
It decided aggainst holding the by-polls for two assembly seats - Vemulawada and Sircilla - as the election petitions against the winning candidates in last year’s elections were still pending in court.
The bye-elections were necessitated by the resignations of all 10 legislators of TRS and one each of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in February in support of the demand for a separate Telangana state.
Chief Electoral Officer I.V.Subba Rao told reporters here that the poll notification would be issued on July 2. The last date for filing nominations would be July 9, while the scrutiny would take place the next day. He said July 12 would be the last date for withdrawal of nominations.
According to the poll schedule, counting of votes would take place July 30. Subba Rao said the model code comes into force with immediate effect in the districts in which the constituencies fall.
TRS chief K.Chandrasekhara Rao reacted strongly to the decision against holding polls in two constituencies. Terming it a “political conspiracy”, he said he would challenge it in court. “This is an undemocratic move and we will challenge it in high court,” he said.
The TRS leader’s son, K. Tarakarama Rao, was elected from Sircilla constituency in last year’s elections by a thin majority of 171 votes. A petitioner has claimed that the votes were not counted properly.
In Vemulawada, Ch. Ramesh of TDP was elected but a contestant filed a petition contending that Ramesh is not a citizen of India.
