KCR the caretaker Chief Minister of Telangana said that he talked to the CEC and that the elections would be held in December. He assured the MLAs that the elections would be done by this year-end and that the results would be out soon. But according to Delhi sources, the norms are that the elections have to be held within 6 months after the dissolution of the Assembly. Within six months means the election commission has time up to March 2019.
But CEC Rawat clarified that as per the supreme court directions the elections have to be done at the earliest, where the Assembly has been dissolved. He said that the discussions are going on with the state elections commissioner. The central team will be coming to Telangana on 11nth September to assess the situation here for conducting the early polls.
As per rules and regulations the elections have to be done for the Telangana before March 2019. If it is done by December it would be advantage KCR and TRS. If it spills over to 2019 March it will be advantage opposition.
While KCR is claiming 100 seats there are some surveys by the National agencies which have given 60 seats to the Congress and other parties together in Telangana.
There is information that the opposition is ganging up to do a strategy like the Karnataka here in Telangana. But TRS thinks it would be just a one-sided war and nothing to bother about the Congress and other parties.
But the advantage is that TRS is poaching all the big guns of the Congress as the elections are closing in.
Resources wise TRS is far better than the Congress. But there are reports that the centre has called the CEC for a meeting and people think it is for clubbing the Telangana election with the 4 states under one state one election strategy.
The picture will be clear by this month end.
U.Srinivas
Editor
