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Doubts over fate of T Bill
Highlights
Doubts Over Fate of Telangana Bill, Election Process Due To Begin In Mid-March, Separate State. The Election Commission (EC) has already started preparations for the 2014 elections and the election process could begin in mid-March. This was stated by Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath at a function in the US. This development raises doubts on whether it would be possible to complete the process of bifurcation of the state by that time.
Election process due to begin in mid-March
- State Assembly given time till January 23
- Spl Parliament session after it sends Bill back
- Entire process has to be over by mid-Feb
- Otherwise, vote-on-account not possible
- Any delay in tight schedule could derail Telangana process
Hyderabad: The Election Commission (EC) has already started preparations for the 2014 elections and the election process could begin in mid-March. This was stated by Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath at a function in the US. This development raises doubts on whether it would be possible to complete the process of bifurcation of the state by that time.
If the election notification is to be announced sometime during mid-March, the process of creating the separate state should be completed by mid-February as the Centre would have to get the vote-on-account budget passed. If the bifurcation process was not over by that time, parliament would not be able to take up the AP Reorganisation Bill.
It may be mentioned here that that the President of India has given time to the state Assembly till January 23, 2014, to discuss and send the opinion of the state legislature to him. Once that is done, the Draft T Bill will once again be sent to the Union Cabinet and thereafter the Bill will be introduced in Parliament. Both Houses will have to pass the Bill before the President gives his assent.
If the present mood of the Seemandhra leaders and the Chief Minister is any indication, the draft Bill may not be returned to the President of India before January 23.
Though the Business Advisory Committee of the State Assembly is scheduled to meet on Monday, unanimity on the date to discuss the draft Bill is unlikely. The YSRCP legislature party is meeting on Monday morning to work out the strategy to be adopted at the BAC meeting.
The TDP Seemandhra leaders are also contemplating to raise objections on matters pertaining to rules and procedures. On the other hand the TRS, the CPI and the T TDP will insist that the Bill should be taken up for discussion immediately.
According to sources, the government may decide to convene a special session sometime during January and it is unlikely that the Bill will be returned to the President before January 23. In the backdrop of this scenario, if the election notification is issued during mid-March, it may not be possible to complete the process of carving out separate T state.
According to the Chief Election Commissioner, the next general elections will be held in multiple phases next year and will be completed in time to constitute the 16th Lok Sabha by June 1. About 780 million people are likely to cast their votes at over 800,000 polling booths, using over 1.18 million electronic voting machines.
He said the elections may be held in five, six or seven phases. Sampath was speaking at an event at the Brookings Institute, an American think-tank, hosted in association with the US India Business Council and Confederation of Indian Industry on Saturday. Sampath said, "Indian elections never missed the deadline, even in most trying circumstances."
He said the notification for the election would be issued three weeks before the first date of the poll and announcement of the election comes another three weeks in advance. The election commission would announce the election schedule six weeks before the actual polling, Sampath added.
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