The Election Commission has announced the schedule for the biennial election to the AP Legislative Council to fill up five vacancies to be elected by the members of the Legislative Assembly.
The notification will be issued on March 10, last date for filing nominations is March 17, last date for withdrawal of candidatures is March 20 and the poll will be held on March 27 from 9 a.m to 4 p.m. and counting will be taken up at 5 p.m. While four MLC seats are vacant as the term of four members of the Council will expire on March 29, another vacant seat is available as the Section 23 of the AP Reorganisation Act, 2014 fixed the number of seats in the council to be elected by the MLAs as 17. However, under the fourth schedule read with Section 22(2) of the Act, the number of council members elected by the MLAs has been allocated as 16.
This inconsistency was referred to the Union Ministry of Home Affairs which advised that the vacant seat could be filled up now.In Telangana Legislative Council too, seven members elected by the members of the Telangana Assembly are retiring on March 29.
However there is inconsistency in the number of seats fixed for this category of seats under Section 23 of the Reorganisation Act. While it fixed the number of seats under this category as 14, the Fourth Schedule of the Act showed it as 15.
The matter was referred to the Centre to remove the inconsistency but the Centre’s response is still awaited. The Commission will take action on filling the vacant seats after the issue is resolved, according to a release from the Election Commission.
There are also inconsistencies related to members to be elected by the members of local authorities’ constituencies in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana Legislative Councils.
