MLC Polls In Telangana Under MLAs Quota Deferred

The Election Commission of India has deferred the elections for seven seats of the Telangana State Legislative Council which are to be elected for by MLAs, and are falling vacant on March 29 due to the sitting MLCs retiring.

According to the ECI, there is an inconsistency in the number of seats (14) fixed for this category under Section 23 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014, and the number of members allocated (15) under the Fourth Schedule of the Act - that is, a discrepancy of one member.

In view of this, the matter was referred to the central government (Ministry of Home Affairs) under Section 108 of the Act.

"The response from the central government is still awaited. once the matter is resolved by the central government, action will be taken by the Commission for the filling up of these seats in accordance with the law," the ECI said on Thursday.

Similarly, three and eights MLCs of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana respectively, elected by the members of the local authorities of the respective states, are also retiring on 29th March and 1st May, upon the completion of their terms. In addition to these, eight seats in the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council and one seat in the Telangana Legislative Council, for those elected by the members of the local authorities' constituencies of the respective states, are lying vacant due to the retirement of the members during 2013 as elections could not be held to fill up these seats in time (the local authorities were not in existence at the time).

Now the local authorities are in existence, and elections have to be held to fill up these seats, too. However, these seats too will be filled only after receipt of clarification on the aforementioned inconsistency, from the central government. (INN)