Telangana assembly election battle begins

Congress-led alliance yet to release list of candidates for state assembly polls

The process for the 119-member Telangana state assembly was set in motion yesterday with the Election Commission releasing the gazette notification and doors opened for the candidates to start filing their nomination papers.

As the first step in the 25day long process, the candidates can file their nominations till November 19. While papers will be scrutinised on November 20, November 22 will be the last date to withdraw the papers. The polling was scheduled for December 7 and results will be declared on December 11.

In the second elections since the formation of Telangana state in 2014, 27.3 million people will be eligible to vote.

State BJP President K Lakshman and another BJP candidate T Raja Singh were among the prominent candidates to file their nominations on the first day.

Prepared

While the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti was fully prepared for the electoral battle as the party president and acting Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has distributed the B forms or the official nomination papers to 107 candidates, its main rival, a Congress-led grand alliance, was still grappling with the issue of sharing of seats.

KCR asked them to remain among the people and not to show any laxity in campaign.

“There should not be any iota doubt in your mind that the TRS was going to return to power with an emphatic victory on 100 seats,” he said.