All three TRS candidates set to win Rajya Sabha polls

BJP, TDP and CPI(M) have decided to abstain from polling

All three candidates of the TRS for the elections to Rajya Sabha to be held on Friday to fill as many vacancies from Telangana Assembly are set to win after the Election Commission cleared the air over the fate of the polls following the expulsion of two Congress MLAs.

The EC on Thursday evening communicated to V. Narasimha Charyulu, the Legislature Secretary who is the returning officer for the election and the Chief Electoral Officer, that expelled MLAs Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and S.A. Sampath Kumar were ineligible to cast vote, subject to any direction from court. Mr. Charyulu told The Hindu that he did not receive any direction from the High Court which the MLAs moved.

Justice B. Shivshankar Rao of the Hyderabad High Court on Thursday granted time till March 27 for producing the video recording of the proceedings of the Telangana Legislative Assembly of March 12 when the two MLAs hurled headphones at the Governor, leading to their expulsion.

The judge had ordered for production of video recording in a sealed envelope by Thursday. J. Ramachandra Rao, additional advocate-general of Telangana, told the court that the House had to pass a resolution and then video recording would be given. Some more time is needed. A letter has been addressed to the Secretary of the House. The judge said that time was extended up to March 27.

Apart from three candidates of TRS — J. Santosh Kumar, Mr. Banda Prakash and B. Lingaiah Yadav — the Congress has fielded former Union Minister of State P. Balram Naik but the election is a mere formality as the TRS has absolute numbers to win. In the 119-member House, the TRS enjoys the support of 108 members, including seven of Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen. The BJP, Telugu Desam and CPI(M), which together have nine members, have decided to abstain from polling. The two expelled Congress members cannot anyway vote.

The Congress decided to contest the polls to corner not only its MLAs but those of the Telugu Desam who defected to the TRS. The objective was to produce one more evidence against defectors to the Supreme Court, which is hearing their case, said Parigi MLA, T. Rammohan Reddy, who is made election incharge of the Congress. The evidence will be built on the basis of the ballot that the MLAs have to display to the Congress election agent in the hall. The Congress on Thursday issued a whip to all its 19 MLAs, including seven defectors, to vote for the party candidate. Mr. Reddy also called upon all the SC and ST MLAs to vote for the Congress candidate as per their conscience.