PIL FILED IN HC AGAINST EARLY POLLS IN TS

Mr Bhaskar said the EC was an independent institution as per the Constitution and did not need to act upon the will and wish of the state government to conduct early elections.

A public interest litigation filed in the Hyderabad High Court on Friday seeks to declare the action of the Centre, the Election Commission and the Telangana state government in trying to conduct elections to the Telangana state Assembly before its tenure of five years as illegal.

Moving the PIL, advocate Rapolu Bhaskar urged the court to direct the Election Commission not to issue notification to conduct the polls in the state before the end of the Assembly’s tenure. He said the previous elections were held in April-May, 2014, along with the Parliament elections and as per procedure and rules the next elections would have to be conducted in April-May, 2019. If the elections were to be held as per schedule to the Lok Sabha and the Assembly it would save approximately `200 crore.

Mr Bhaskar said the Election Commission was an independent institution as per the Constitution and did not need to act upon the will and wish of the state government to conduct early elections. The state government’s decision to dissolve the Assembly was a political strategy for the benefit of the ruling party. He told the court that the voters had elected the MLAs for a tenure of five years. If any election was held before five years, it would amount to going against the will and wish of the voters. There was no convincing reason to go for early elections, which was an unnecessary exercise and would financially burden the public.