With the Election Commission of India announcing the schedule for the State Assembly elections, poll fever has started gripping Telangana as the State was headed for a multi-cornered contest.
While the administration was gearing up to prepare for the polls and the police was boosting the security in view of the threat of the outlawed CPI Maoist to disrupt the election process, the rival political parties were busy in chalking their respective plans of action.
Chief Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat has announced that the polling in Telangana will be held in a single phase on December 7 and the results will be declared on December 11.
Getting into action within hours of the announcement the Chief Electoral Officer Rajath Kumar issued orders to remove the banners, billboards and posters of all the political parties and leaders from public places.
In Hyderabad and surrounding areas the personnel of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) spent entire Sunday in removal of the publicity materials and hoardings. Similar drive was launched in all the 30 other districts across the State.
Rajath Kumar directed the officials in the districts to ensure that the model code of conduct was enforced strictly with immediate effect.
The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samiti led by the caretaker Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has already covered a lot of ground by releasing the list of its candidates for most of the 119 Assembly constituencies, the Opposition parties were still in the process of negotiations among themselves to reach a seat sharing agreement.
The Grand Alliance or Mahakutatmi of Congress, Telugu Desam, CPI and Telangana Jana Samiti has held several rounds of meetings and agreed to work together to unseat the KCR regime but were yet to get down to the nitty-gritties including the sharing of seats and deciding which constituency will go to home.
State Congress president N Uttam Kumar Reddy has said that the party’s list of candidates will be ready by October 20.
BJP, which will contest the polls alone would decide its candidates by October 10 when the Parliamentary Committee of the party will meet in New Delhi. Party sources said that more than 1,000 aspirants have applied for the party tickets reflecting great enthusiasm in the ranks.
As far as the campaign was concerned the ruling TRS was clearly ahead with its supremo KCR having addressed at least four major election rallies in different districts in his typical acerbic style.
Apparently worried over the challenge coming together of the Opposition parties can pose to him, KCR has so far primarily targeted the Telugu Desam party and its president and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, projecting him as a threat to the interest of Telangana.