HYDERABAD: Lobbying for three MLC seats, under the MLA quota, that will fall vacant due to the retirement of the office-bearers gained steam within the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) after the Election Commission of India (ECI) issued the poll schedule on Monday.
While three seats will fall vacant under the MLA quota on March 29 — with the retirement of MLCs Alimineti Krishna Reddy, Vullolla Gangadhar Goud and Kurumaiahgari Naveen Kumar — two more MLC seats, under the Governor quota, will fall vacant on May 27, with the retirement of BRS MLCs D. Rajeshwar Rao and Farooq Hussain.
As per the ECI schedule, notification for the elections to three MLC seats would be issued on March 6, with March 13 as the last date for nominations, scrutiny the next day and March 16 as the last date for withdrawal. Polling will be held on March 23.
However, BRS victory is imminent in the three seats as no other party has the required numbers to contest the polls. In the 119-member Legislative Assembly, the BRS has a strength of 104 MLAs, while AIMIM has 7, Congress 5 and BJP 3.
The two MLC seats under Governor's quota, which will fall vacant in May, would also go to BRS leaders. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao will nominate the members and send them to Governor for approval.
While BRS sources indicate that around 50 leaders are in a race to bag these five seats, they said the Chief Minister will decide the names strategically, given that the state is set to go to polls in December 2023.
The BRS head is expected to utilise the MLC elections to pacify disgruntled leaders who could not be accommodated in the party posts or government posts due to political and caste equations. Leaders who are seeking MLA tickets but having little chance of getting one are also under consideration.
Speculations are rife in BRS circles that the Chief Minister is considering nominating industrialists as MLCs, keeping in view the party's financial needs for the election year.
Previously, the Chief Minister had nominated Hetero Group chairman Bandi Partha Saradhi Reddy, granite businessman Vaddiraju Ravichandra and media house owner Divikonda Damodar Rao to the Rajya Sabha in May 2022.
