Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) MLC Dasoju Sravan Kumar on Wednesday, January 28, raised concerns over the “compressed” Municipal election schedule released by the State Election Commission (SEC) the previous day, saying it puts the ruling Congress at an unfair advantage.
In an open letter, the MLC said, “for the first time in the history of our country,” not a single day’s gap was provided between the announcement of the schedule and the issuance of the election notification.
“Giving just one day for voter-roll verification, two days for filing nominations, and barely a week of effective campaigning mocks the very idea of democratic participation,” he said.
He said the State Election Commission is acting as if elections are an “inconvenience” and must be “hurriedly completed by hook or crook.” Sravan Kumar said the schedule puts the opposition, independents, women, and first-time candidates at a disadvantage compared to the ruling party, which has pre-existing networks and administrative familiarity.
“This is not a level playing field; it is institutionalised inequality,” the MLC said.
He said that the Election Commission has the “sacred duty of ensuring free and fair elections, not merely fast elections”.
The MLC has asked for Governor Jishnu Dev Varma’s intervention on the issue saying, it has created a public perception that the SEC has ceased to function with constitutional autonomy and has “either colluded with or been captured by the state government led by Revanth Reddy.”
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