Congress seeks immediate implementation of model code in Telangana

With Telangana's ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) sounding the poll bugle by announcing candidates for 115 seats for upcoming Assembly elections, the opposition Congress has urged the Election Commission to immediately enforce the model code of conduct in the state.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) vice-president G. Niranjan has written a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Rajeev Kumar in this regard, urging to immediately implement the model code of conduct in Telangana.

The Congress leader voiced the apprehension that with the announcement of candidates, BRS may resort to misuse of official machinery.

Chief Minister and BRS president K. Chandrasekhar Rao on Monday announced candidates for 115 seats, denying tickets to only eight sitting MLAs.

The candidates for remaining four seats will be announced in 3-4 days, he said.

CM KCR also announced that he will contest from two Assembly constituencies – Gajwel and Kamareddy. He was elected from Gajwel in 2018.

Meanwhile, state Congress president A. Revanth Reddy has said that KCR will lose from both the seats. He said since KCR was not confident of retaining Gajwel, he decided to contest from Kamareddy as well.

Senior Congress leader Mohammed Ali Shabbir said the people of Kamareddy will defeat KCR.

Shabbir, who lost the election from Kamareddy in 2018 by a margin of 5,007 votes to Gampa Govardhan of Congress, is likely to be fielded again by the party.

Elections to 119-member Telangana Assembly are slated to be held in November-December.