Telangana : Excruciating 42-day wait for Lok Sabha results

Hyderabad: Having to wait for a long time for results to be announced is a kind of punishment, whether it’s examination results or election results.

Both Telangana state and Andhra Pradesh will have to wait for 42 long days to know the results of the Lok Sabha and, in AP, the Assembly results.

In 2014, AP waited for 16 days and Telangana state for nine days to know the results of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

In the recent TS Assembly elections in December last year, results were declared within four days.

Lok Sabha elections for 17 seats in TS and 25 seats in AP will be held in the first phase, on April 11. Elections for the Assembly in AP will also be held simultaneously on April 11.

Counting of votes for both Lok Sabha and the AP Assembly will take place on May 23.

The waiting period is always a tense one for all concerned and 42 days is a very long time. In AP, particularly, tension will be high among contesting candidates and parties as the Assembly elections are likely to be a neck-to-neck race between the ruling Telugu Desam and the main Opposition YSR Congress.

The long period of waiting for declaration of Assembly results in AP will have another fall out. The ruling TD will continue in power for 42 days after polling take place. If the government takes any important decision during this period, while the code of conduct is still in force till May 23, the YSR Congress may well object.