Hyderabad: The ensuing Assembly elections are a test for the future of Telangana Rashtra Samiti’s Members of Parliament. They are more worried about the results than the MLA candidates. Assembly elections are likely to be held around December 2018 and within just four months, around April 2019, Lok Sabha elections will be held. The Assembly results will have an impact on the Lok Sabha elections. In Telangana, there are 17 Lok Sabha constituencies and in the previous elections, TRS won 11 seats, Congress two and MIM, Telugu Desam, BJP and YSRC won one seat each. After the elections, the TD, YSRC and one Congress MP defected to the TRS.
In each Lok Sabha constituency there are seven Assembly segments. If the TRS wins in a majority of the segments, the concerned TRS MP will have a chance to win in the Lok Sabha elections if votes are polled in the same way. Generally, if a majority of segments are with one party then that party's MP candidate will have a better chance of winning. A TRS MP says there are advantages and disadvantages to early assembly elections.
Early assembly elections are useful because MPs get an indication of which assembly constituency they should concentrate on for the Lok Sabha elections. In simultaneous polls, assembly and Lok Sabha candidates will both work hard to win. In the event of early Assembly elections the defeated candidates may not work seriously for the Lok Sabha candidates, and those who have been elected MLAs may also not work hard for the MP candidate as their future is not at risk.
Regarding election expenditure also, MPs may face a problem. Once the assembly elections are over, the defeated and elected party candidates may not take spending the funds seriously.
