Elections for Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) under the MLA quota will be held on March 20.
Elections for the Legislative Council under the MLA quota in Telangana will take place on March 20.
Arpit Pattnaik
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has released the schedule for elections to fill ten vacancies in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh by the end of March, with five vacancies in each state.
In Telangana, the terms of five Members of the Legislative Council (MLCs) — Satyavathi Rathod, Mahmood Ali, Mirza Riyaz ul Hasan, Sheri Subhash Reddy, and E. Mallesham — will conclude by the end of March. Among these, only Mirza Riyaz ul Hasan is from the AIMIM; the other four belong to the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS).
Their election in 2019 was largely a formality since the Congress party chose to withdraw from polling after several of its MLAs defected to the then-ruling BRS, reducing its strength.
According to the schedule released by the ECI, the notification will be issued on March 3, with nominations beginning on March 10. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on March 11, and the last date for withdrawing nominations is March 13. The elections will be held on March 20, with polling scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Counting of votes will occur immediately after polling concludes.
Official sources indicate that securing each MLC seat will require the support of 20 MLAs (19.84 based on the total strength of the legislative assembly, which is 119). The election results could yield interesting outcomes based on the current alliances in the assembly.
The Congress party, with 64 MLAs, is expected to secure three seats, while the BRS, with 39 members, is likely to obtain one seat based on their respective strengths. Additionally, if the AIMIM, which has seven MLAs, chooses to support Congress, they could potentially vie for a fourth seat, given that 10 BRS members are reportedly on their side.
Meanwhile, the BRS, as the main opposition, will also aim for a second seat if they can garner support from both the BJP and AIMIM, although achieving this alliance is considered unlikely due to the ideological differences between the two parties.
