The Hindu : Front Page : Constitution of Council to be delayed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 11, 2006
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Constitution of Council to be delayed

M. Rajeev

State Chief Electoral Officer V. Bhaskar

HYDERABAD: Even as political parties and teachers and graduates' associations have embarked upon the selection of candidates for the Legislative Council, the formation of the council itself is likely to go beyond four months from now.

The path to the actual revival of the council after nearly two decades is long and tortuous. The exercise has begun with the Chief Electoral Officer launching work on preparing electoral rolls for the graduates' and teachers' constituencies by inviting applications from eligible voters. The last date for receipt of applications is November 6 and the final rolls will be published by December 29, according to CEO V. Bhaskar.

Once the draft rolls are ready, he would request the Election Commission of India to issue the election notification. Senior officials associated with the process, however, pointed out that it would take at least a month for the EC to announce the schedule and notify the elections since it had to verify the procedure adopted for the preparation of the electoral rolls.

Thereafter, it is likely to take another month for completion of the pre-election process. Separate returning officers have to be appointed for each of the four categories-- MLAs who decide the fate of 31 seats, elected representatives of local bodies (31), teachers (8) and graduates (8) in the 90-member body-- besides fulfilling other formalities.

Sarpanches omitted

"Going by the procedure involved, the council is likely to become a reality towards the end of February if everything goes right," a senior official told The Hindu.

While different associations representing graduates and teachers have commenced the exercise to select their candidates, serious concerns are being expressed over the omission of sarpanches from the list of voters for the 31 seats to be elected by the representatives of local bodies.

Going by their strength in the Assembly, the Congress can secure 18 seats, TDP at least four, TRS two and Left parties one each. For the remaining five seats, much will depend as to how the smaller parties -- MIM (five), BJP, Janata Party (two members each) and independents and others with a strength of 20 -- will vote.

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