KCR picks resigned collector for MLC seat, topguns to wait

HYDERABAD: Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao declared the party's candidates for elections to six MLC seats under MLAs quota on Tuesday, the last date to file nominations. All these six TRS candidates will be declared unanimously elected as none from other parties filed nominations.

Rao sprang a surprise by selecting former Siddipet collector P. Venkatrami Reddy, who took voluntary retirement from IAS only a day ago, Rajya Sabha member Banda Prakash, who has still three years of tenure left and Padi Kaushik Reddy, who was earlier nominated as MLC under Governor's quota in August but approval of which is pending with Governor since then.

The other three candidates include former Legislative Council chairman Gutha Sukender Reddy, former Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari and Thakkallapalli Ravinder Rao, a senior party leader from Warangal district.

While the names of former Telangana Telugu Desam Party chief L. Ramana, former BJP leader Mothkupalli Narasimhulu who joined the TRS just before Huzurabad Assembly bypoll were doing rounds in party circles for MLC seats, both were missing from the final selection list.

The names of former Legislative Assembly speaker S. Madhusudhana Chary, M.C. Koti Reddy, Akula Lalitha and Errolla Srinivas were also in circulation for a long but could not make it in the final list. Party sources expect Chandrashekar Rao to nominate Madhusudhana Chary as MLC under Governor's quota in place of Kaushik Reddy.

The caste equations in the selection of candidates also surprised party circles. While three from Reddy community secured MLC seats, the other three went to Velama, BC and SC communities respectively.

The six MLCs whose term ended on June 3 this year were Legislative Council chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy, deputy chairman Neti Vidyasagar, Kadiyam Srihari, Akula Lalitha and Bodakunti Venkateshwarlu, all from the ruling TRS. Of them, only Gutha Sukender Reddy and Kadiyam Srihari managed to get another term as MLCs.

However, the party chief Chandrashekar Rao needs to declare 12 more candidates by November 23 to contest MLC elections under local bodies quota for which the Election Commission had issued notification on November 9. Party sources expect Chandrashekar Rao to consider the names of leaders under local bodies MLC quota, who could not be accommodated under the six MLC vacancies under MLAs quota.

All the 12 MLC seats under local bodies’ quota for which the elections are being held belong to ruling TRS. These seats will fall vacant on January 4, 2022, following the retirement of TRS MLCs Puranam Satish Kumar from Adilabad, Pochampally Srinivas Reddy from Warangal, Tera Chinnapa Reddy from Nalgonda, V. Bhoopal Reddy from Medak, K. Kavitha from Nizamabad, Balasani Laxminarayana from Khammam, T. Bhanuprasad Rao and Naradasu Laxman Rao from Karimnagar, Kasireddy Narayan Reddy and Kuchukulla Damodar Reddy from Mahbubnagar, Patnam Mahender Reddy and Sunkari Raju from Ranga Reddy.

The Election Commission of India issued the notification on Tuesday for conducting elections to 12 MLC seats under local bodies quota. The last date for submission of nominations is November 23. While the scrutiny of nominations will be on November 24, the last date for withdrawal of candidatures is November 26.

The polling will be conducted for these seats on December 10 followed by counting of votes and announcement of results on December 14. The elected representatives of urban and rural local bodies, namely ward members, sarpanches, councillors, MPTCs and ZPTCs, are eligible to vote in these elections.

Since the ruling TRS’ elected representatives in rural and local bodies comprise over 90 per cent of total elected representatives in the state, the party is expected to bag all 12 seats without any difficulty.