Telangana preps for graduate MLC polls; nominations from today

Hyderabad: Telangana is set to witness yet another electoral battle in less than a month’s time, in two graduates constituencies of Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahabubnagar and Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda for the state’s legislative council. Nominations for the same can be filed from Tuesday, the election commission said.

The last day for filing nominations would be February 23, the commission said, while announcing the schedule last Thursday. On February 24, scrutiny of nominations will be done and the last date for withdrawal is February 26. 

The elections are set to be held on March 14. Polling will be held between 8 am and 4 pm and results will be declared on March 17. A total of 11 nodal officers, including two IAS officers and one IPS officer, have been appointed to oversee the elections.

As many as 5.6 lakh graduates enrolled to vote in the ensuing elections, which is more than double times compared to the last election in the same constituencies.

While Hyderabad-Ranga Reddy-Mahabubnagar constituency was represented by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s N. Ramachander Rao, Palla Rajeshwar Reddy of Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) represented the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda graduates constituency in the council. Their terms will expire on March 28.

Campaigning in full swing

The graduates’ MLC elections became a matter of prestige for both TRS and BJP, who were at loggerheads in the Hyderabad civic polls held in December last. Both parties have already launched campaigning, with the sitting MLCs likely to be in the fray this time too.

However, an exciting contest is to be seen with several popular faces standing for the election. Among them is former Telangana movement leader and Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) president M Kodandaram, contesting from the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda constituency, who has already accelerated the campaign.