MLC elections: EC decision to conduct separate polls detrimental to BRS chances, Congress to benefit

HYDERABAD: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to conduct separate polls for the two MLC seats falling vacant in Telangana under the MLA quota with polls scheduled for January-end.

The ECI will be setting up two separate ballot boxes, which will allow the MLAs to vote separately.

Elections to the two MLC seats were necessitated with BRS MLCs Kadiam Srihari and Padi Kaushik Reddy resigning from the Council after they were elected MLAs in the recent Assembly polls.

Rattled by this never-before decision, the BRS decided to petition to the ECI. "We are unable to understand the logic behind the decision. Both Srihari and Kaushik Reddy were declared elected as MLCs on November 9, 2021. They were elected through a single notification then where is the need for two separate notifications to fill the two vacancies," senior BRS leader and former MP B Vinod Kumar questioned.

The EC decision would benefit the Congress as it has enough strength in the State Assembly to win both the MLC seats. If the election commission decided to conduct a single election with a single ballot then the Congress might have won just one seat and the BRS might have won the second seat. The latest decision of the ECI rendered the BRS a loser and there would be no chance to retain even a single seat.

With the ECI treating the elections for the two MLCs as mutually independent, each MLA will have a chance to vote separately for both seats. The Congress with 65 MLA seats in its kitty, including the one from the CPI, will leave no chance for the BRS to win a single seat with its strength of 39 MLAs. As any party will need 40 MLA seats to win one MLC seat, the Congress could have won only one seat in case the election is held on a single ballot. The BRS with the support of seven AIMIM legislators could have won one seat.

If a single election was held for two seats at a time, the support of 40 MLAs is required to win each seat. In that event, the Congress would have won one seat on its own and the BRS with the support of the AIMIM's seven legislators was expected to win another seat.

Ironically, the same Congress opposed the separate conduct of elections to three Rajya Sabha seats in Delhi Capital Territory. It opposed the move of the ECI to hold three separate elections and moved Delhi High Court in 1994, seeking a common election for all the three vacant seats. However, the Delhi High Court dismissed the petition.

While the reasons for the ECI for taking such a decision in Telangana, which would turn advantageous to the Congress, are not known, the poll notification for the two seats will be declared on January 11. The last date for filing nominations will be January 18. Scrutiny of papers will be conducted on January 19 and the last date for withdrawal of nominations will be January 22.

Polling will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on January 29. The counting of votes will begin at 5 pm and results will be declared on the same day.

This decision would leave the BRS bewildered. Whether the BRS would seek a legal recourse is not clear yet. However, the precedence of the Delhi High Court order would naturally obviate the BRS from obtaining a decision in favour of its contention.