Hyderabad: Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy took flight to Delhi on Tuesday evening to meet the Congress high command to finalise party candidates for the MLC polls, scheduled to be held on March 20 for five MLA quota seats.

The CM who also got Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s appointment will be meeting him, besides holding meetings with other Union Ministers during his Delhi visit on Wednesday.

Revanth Reddy along with Minister Sridhar Babu, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, DGP Jithender and CMO officials will be meeting the Prime Minister on Wednesday morning. Amongst the key issues likely to be discussed are increasing allocation of IPS cadre to state, besides seeking Centre’s funding for the Musi River Front Project, extension of Metro Rail in Hyderabad.

Following the meeting with the PM, the Chief Minister will be holding meetings with the party high command towards finalising the names for upcoming MLA quota MLC polls. With the tenure of five MLCs in the 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. Meanwhile hectic lobbying has begun in the Congress, as close to 20 aspirants are vying to get into the poll fray for the five positions.

The names, including Addanki Dayakar, former MLAs T Jagga Reddy, S A Sampath Kumar, senior leader Jeevan Reddy, Bellaiah Naik, Patel Ramesh Reddy, former MP Anjan Kumar Yadav and former minister and present Government Advisor Mohammed Ali Shabbir, are under circulation. 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.