Notification for LS polls in Telangana to be issued on Apr 18

Hyderabad: The gazette notification for election to the 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana would be issued on April 18, setting the stage for a keen electoral battle among the ruling Congress, BJP and BRS.

Nominations would be accepted from April 18 to 25. The papers would be scrutinized on April 26 and the last date for the withdrawal of nominations is April 29, as per the schedule announced by the Election Commission.

Polling for the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in Telangana would be held in single phase on May 13. Congress, fresh from its win in the 2023 Assembly polls, is keen to repeat the good show, while BRS that ruled the state for 10 years and now suffering defections, is striving hard to reverse its fortunes.

The BJP, energised with its better poll show– in terms of seats and vote share in 2023 state elections, is eager to make more electoral inroads. While the BJP and BRS have already announced their candidates for all the 17 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, Congress has named its nominees to 14 seats so far.

Chief Minister and state Congress president A Revanth Reddy, BRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and the BJP’s candidates have already kicked off their poll campaign. The campaign is expected to gather momentum after the issue of election notification on April 18.

Revanth Reddy recently addressed two public meetings, while Chandrasekhar Rao, also known as KCR, has also attended two BRS rallies organised during the last few days. The Lok Sabha election is crucial for the Congress, BJP and BRS, especially the Chandrasekhar Rao-led party which is facing an existential crisis of sorts following its unexpected defeat in the Assembly elections held in November last year.

The election is also significant for CM Revanth Reddy as Congress needs to retain the momentum following its victory in the Assembly polls. For BJP, Telangana is the only state in the south, after Karnataka, where it sees the possibility to win a substantial number of seats. BRS had won nine of the 17 Lok Sabha seats in 2019, while BJP and Congress secured four and three seats respectively.