And the verbal battle continues

The ‘War of Words’ between Chief Electoral Officer Bhanwarlal and Congress leader Marri Sashidhar Reddy began ever since the controversy over the alleged illegal deletions from voter lists broke out

November 23, 2015 12:00 am | Updated 11:29 am IST

‘War of Words’ between Chief Electoral Officer of TS and AP Bhanwarlal and former MLA and Congress leader Marri Sashidhar Reddy continues. The verbal battle between the officer and the ex-National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) chief began ever since the controversy over the alleged illegal deletion of names from voter list in the capital region broke out.

Although Mr. Reddy’s initial ire was directed at the then GHMC Commissioner Somesh Kumar whom he accused of resorting to the act on instructions of political bosses, he also went after the CEO when Mr. Bhanwarlal appeared to have defended the District Election Officer (GHMC Commissioner) on the deletions.

The CEO too came out in the open and charged Mr. Reddy with resorting to mudslinging without any proof. He also observed that the ex-MLA had created problems for him even during his stint as the Hyderabad Collector. After successfully bringing the voters deletion issue to the notice of Election Commission and ensuring that a special team conducted checks following which the municipal corporation has taken up a ‘correction drive’, Mr. Reddy seems to have decided to continue in the same vein. He has now charged Mr. Bhanwarlal of toeing the TRS Government line on complaints about model code violations in the Warangal parliamentary by-poll.

In a fix over rule of reservation

With the Telangana government expected to release in the next few days a notification for recruitment of 2,900 police personnel, the aspiring candidates are in a fix over how the rule of reservation would be implemented in the recruitment. They are worried if the court litigation for three years over implementation of the rule when the last recruitment was notified in 2011 would repeat itself this time. The problem has stemmed from divergent rules followed by Telangana State Public Service Commission and the recruitment board of police. The commission fills the posts in open category initially and then takes up the quota for various social groups. Finally, the reservations in special category for NCC, sports and families of police personnel are completed.

The board also filled up open category posts first but followed it up with completion of the process for special category, particularly police families. This dichotomy, apart, the government has introduced a new element in the process this year by extending 33 per cent reservation for women. What will be the new norm?

Getting things done instantly!

We often see even ruling party leaders including the elected representatives making rounds of those holding positions of power to seek favours for their constituents, as it would be difficult for those yielding power to keep all those who matter in good humour. However, it would not be so if those holding positions of power and the ones seeking favour, of course for people, belong to the same flock. Recently, Telangana Rashtra Samithi MP K. Kavitha called on the Chief Minister in the morning seeking sanction of additional houses under the 2-BHK housing scheme for her constituency. Within a few hours, a government order was issued by the housing department sanctioning 1,100 houses to Nizamabad Assembly constituency. Though there is nothing wrong in getting favours for one’s constituents, it may not be possible for all elected representatives to get things done instantly!

Model code plays spoilsport

Warangal by-election will not just decide the future of political aspirants but also that of hundreds of students from weak socio-economic backgrounds who are dependent on tuition fee reimbursement and scholarships. As last week saw the last date for submitting applications to avail State sponsored financial assistance expiring, only a record low of 8.9 lakh students had applied for the same.

While scores of students were logged out of the process, due to technical glitches including server errors, Telangana government has failed to extend the last date for applications as Election Commission of India’s code of conduct is in place, thanks to Warangal by-poll.

Now, unless ECI gives its go ahead for extension of dates those waiting for scholarships will be left in the lurch, leaving many to wonder whether elections should be fought at the cost of education. In 2014-15, a total of 13.71 lakh students had applied for the scholarship and reimbursement schemes.

V. Geetanath, N. Rahul , B. Chandrashekhar , Nikhila Henry

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