Elections 2014: Parties make lists a midnight masala

Hyderabad: Reflecting the intensity of the biggest-ever electoral battle, the Telugu Desam, BJP and the YSR Congress had not released their full lists past midnight on Wednesday.

Filing of nominations comes to a close on Wednesday. While the TD had not begun the formal release of its list at 12.30 am on Wednesday, the YSR Congress had nominated candidates for 13 out of 17 Lok Sabha seats and 79 out of 117 Assembly segments.

The BJP filled in its share of eight LS candidates, but announced the names of just 21 of 47 seats given to it as part of the alliance with the TD. All these parties had previously promised to release the candidates’ list at least one year to six months in advance.

As against this, the Congress had announced all its candidates, barring one, two days back. The TRS has also announced its list barring Malkajagiri Lok Sabha and 10 Assembly segments.

“We have announced all the candidates except for very few Assembly segments. For Malkajagiri, of course, we are searching for a potential candidate, we will announce the name tomorrow,” a TRS leader said.

The Congress has not officially announced its candidate for Kodada Assembly in Nalgonda district. The delay on the part of the TD and the BJP, which have entered into an alliance this time, has resulted in enormous tension and mental agony among the potential candidates.

“We are keeping the list in suspense, as there are chances of leaders deserting the party if they are denied tickets. We wanted to avoid this, but we have informed the candidates to go ahead and file nominations without waiting for an announcement,” said a TD leader.

With regard to the YSRC, its president Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had a series of meetings with party leaders to finalise the candidates on Tuesday.

“We are hoping for some leaders to join the party, we will finalise the list soon,” was the reply by a leader.