RS polls on March 23, leaders vie for seat

Last date for filing nominations is Monday

As the Rajya Sabha election notification was issued on Monday, TRS leaders have intensified their moves to get a Rajya Sabha seat.

In Telangana, elections will be held for three Rajya Sabha seats. The last date for filing the nominations is March 12 and the scrutiny of the nominations will be done on March 13. The last date for withdrawing nominations is March 15.

If necessary, election will be held on March 23 from 9 am to 4 pm.

Rajya Sabha members Rapolu Anand Bhaskar (Congress) and C.M. Ramesh (TD) will be completing their term on April 2, 2018. Congress MP Palvai Govardhan Reddy passed away on June 9, 2017, due to ill health. To fill these three vacancies, elections will be held.

Meanwhile, TRS leaders are trying to test their luck in getting a Rajya Sabha ticket. The TRS general-secretary and relative of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao, Mr Joginapally Santosh’s name has already been finalised.

Mr Rao had announced that one Rajya Sabha seat will be for the Yadava community. For this seat, former CPM leader Nomula Narasimhaiah, meat and poultry corporation chairman Rajayya Yadav and TRS leader Tula Uma’s names are under consideration. For the other seats, there are many aspirants in TRS.

Meanwhile, main opposition, the Congress, is planning to field a fourth candidate.

In the 120-member (including the nominated member) state Assembly, TRS has 89 members. The present strength of Congress is 13 and MIM has 7 members, BJP 5, TD has 2 and CPM has one member.

The MIM and the BJP will not support the Congress candidate, if one stands for the election. According to present strength, TRS will bag all the three Rajya Sabha seats. However, main Opposition Congress is considering to field its candidate. But in Congress, there are different opinions about fielding a candidate.