Telangana polls: Election Commission team from Delhi to visit today, meet CS
CEO submits report on administration's preparedness.
Hyderabad: A team of officers of the Election Commission of India will arrive in Hyderabad on Tuesday for a two-day visit to assess the situation for conducting early Assembly elections. Chief Electoral Officer S. Rajat Kumar met EC officials in New Delhi on Monday and submitted a report explaining the preparedness of the state government administration in holding Assembly elections any time after October 8.
The EC team will meet Chief Secretary S.K. Joshi, DGP Mahender Reddy, collectors and superintendent of police of all districts besides representatives of recognised political parties to take their feedback on elections and submit a report to the EC, based on which the poll panel will take a call on the schedule for the state Assembly elections.
Mr Kumar had a six-hour long meeting with Chief Election Commissioer O.P. Rawat and the two Election Commissioners. He briefed them about the arrangements being made for elections and said the state machinery was ready to hold elections in November.
“No decision has been taken by the EC on the schedule for the TS Assembly elections so far. A high-level team from the EC will visit TS for two days from Tuesday and submit a report to the EC. The EC will go through the report and take a decision on when to hold the elections,” Mr Kumar said. The team will meet representatives of all nine political parties on Tuesday and seek their views on early polls.
Meanwhile, the Election Commission on Monday released the draft photo electoral rolls with a cut-off date of January 1, 2017. The total voters in TS stands at 2,59,16,102 of whom male voters comprise 1,31,33,297, female voters 1,27,80,399 and third gender voters 2,406. People can check their details online on the EC website and file claims, objections if any on draft rolls till September 25. The final rolls will be published on October 8. Chief Secretary Joshi on Monday reviewed arrangements for the EC team’s visit with senior officials and the DGP at the Secretariat.