Filing of nominations begins for State Assembly elections

Hyderabad: The process for general elections to Telangana Assembly was set in motion on Friday with the issue of gazette notifications.

With this began the process of filing of nominations for November 30 elections to the 119-member Assembly.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) published a notification fixing the programme for various stages of the election.

Returning Officers (ROs) in all the constituencies issued public notice in Form-1, specifying the details of names of Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) who will receive nominations and place for taking nominations that is the office of Returning Officer.

Nominations will be received on all working days between 11 am and 3 pm till November 10 at the RO’s office in each of 119 constituencies.

The scrutiny of nominations will be taken up on November 13. The last date for withdrawal of nominations will be November 15.

Polling will be held on November 30 while the counting of votes will be taken up on December 3.

The State is set to witness a three-cornered contest among ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS), opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Aiming for a third consecutive term, BRS has already announced candidates for 116 constituencies and is ahead of others in campaigning. The Congress has also declared 100 candidates and is running an intensive campaign. The BJP has announced 88 names in three lists. Uncertainty prevails on whether BJP will have an alliance with actor Pawan Kalyan-led Jana Sena Party (JSP), a constituent of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The CPI (M) has announced that it will go alone after the Congress party did not leave two seats sought by it. The CPI has decided to wait for a couple of days for a response from Congress.

Meanwhile, State Chief Electoral Officer, Vikas Raj, said all arrangements have been made in the offices of the ROs to receive the nominations.

As per the orders issued by the election authorities, only three vehicles will be allowed in the candidate’s convoy within 100 meters to RO’s office at the time of filing nomination. Five persons, including candidates, will be allowed inside RO’s room.

Along with nomination, every candidate has to file an affidavit in Form-26 declaring information about his criminal antecedents, assets, liabilities and education qualifications. At least one day before filing for a nomination, each candidate has to open a separate bank account to monitor his or her election expenditure.

An online nomination facility is available through Suvidha Portal of ECI and a signed hard copy of the same has to be submitted to RO.