CM Revanth rushing to Delhi today to finalise party picks for MLC seats

Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy along with the PCC core committee will be meeting party High Command for finalising the names of MLC candidates for the upcoming polls under MLA quota during his visit to the national capital on Friday.

According to party sources, the core committee which has already discussed the matter over the finalisation of the names will be getting approval of the AICC. With 64-seats in the Assembly, besides one ally CPI, the Congress is likely to win four under quota, while the BRS will get one. However, the CPI which has one MLA at the time of getting into coalition has sought two MLC positions. The party is batting for getting at least one this time. Interestingly, even AIMIM is seeking one position which is being vacated by Mirza Riazul Hasan Effendi. These issues are likely to be discussed during the tour.

The party will be doing a balancing act with SC, ST, BC, upper castes and Minority categories whose top aspirants are about 20. S A Sampath Kumar, Addanki Dayakar, Ramulu Naik, Bellaiah Naik are the names under circulation from SC and ST castes. While from BC there are numerous names including Anjan Kumar Yadav, Charan Koushik Yadav, Saritha Yadav, Sunitha Rao, Bandi Sudhakar Goud, Madhu Yashki Goud, Konagala Mahesh amongst others. From Minority, there are several contestants including Mohammed Ali Shabbir, Feroz Khan, Faheem Qureshi. From upper castes, Jeevan Reddy, Sama Rammohan Reddy, Harkara Venugopal, Kusuma Kumar are under circulation.

With the tenure of five MLCs in State concluding on March 29, the elections are scheduled to be held on March 20. Mohammad Mahmood Ali, Satyavati Rathod, Seri Subhash Reddy, Mallesham Yagi and Mirza Riazul Hasan Effendi will vacate their positions on March 29.

The MLA quota MLC elections are conducted to elect members through voting by state legislators. The notification will be issued on March 3, officially commencing the election process. Candidates will have until March 10 to submit their nominations, which will undergo scrutiny on March 11. Any withdrawal of nominations must be completed by March 13. Polling will be conducted on March 20, with voting scheduled between 9 am and 4 pm. Counting of votes will take place on the same day at 5 pm. The entire election process is set to conclude by March 24.