Expelled MLAs from TS assembly to be brought to EC's notice

Hyderabad: Following the expulsion of two Congress MLAs from the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, the Telangana Legislature Secretariat will consider informing the Election Commission about the expulsion with a copy of the resolution relating to the expulsions passed in the Assembly. The expulsions effectively create two vacancies in the 119-member Telangana State Assembly.

The communication can be sent to the State Election Commission which will then forward it to the Election Commission of India. And once the ECI accepts the decision of the State Legislature on the expulsion, the constituencies of the two expelled Congress members, Nalgonda represented by Komatireddy Venkat Reddy and Alampur represented by S A Sampath Kumar will be up for by-election.

However, it is up to the ECI to decide when such by-election should be held or whether they will be held at all considering that there is just about a year left before the current five-year term of the State Legislature ends. Elections were last held in April of 2014 to the Telangana Assembly.

Asked if the ruling TRS was concerned about by-elections in the two constituencies, a senior party leader dismissed the question saying it should be the Congress that needs to worry on this issue. Monday’s expulsions have reduced the effective strength of the Congress in the Assembly from 13 to 11. The party had originally won 21 seats in the 2014 but six of its members later joined the TRS.