BJP releases first list of candidates for Telangana assembly polls

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday released its first list of candidates for the Telangana Assembly Elections 2023. The party has fielded MP Soyam Bapu Rao from Boath, MP Arvind Dharmapuri from Koratla and national general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar from Karimnagar.

MLA T Raja Singh will contest the poll from Goshamahal and Eatala Rajender from Huzurabad and Gajwel assembly constituency. Earlier in the day, the party revoked the suspension of Telangana MLA T Raja Singh following his reply to the show-cause notice issued by the party after a row was triggered by his remarks against Prophet Muhammad.

The MLA was suspended in August and issued a show-cause notice.
“Under suspension, the Central Disciplinary Committee of the party issued a show cause notice to you. This refers to your reply to the show cause notice. Your reply and explanation offered therein have been considered by the committee. Basis your reply, the committee has decided to revoke your suspension forthwith,” Om Pathak, member secretary of the party’s Central Disciplinary Committee, said in a notification.

The upcoming assembly election in Telangana scheduled to take place on November 30 is poised for a triangular contest, with the BJP, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi, and the Congress as the major contenders. In the previous Assembly elections in 2018, the BRS won 88 of the 119 seats, hogging 47.4 per cent of the total vote share. The Congress finished a distant second with 19 seats and a vote share of 28.7 per cent.

Polls will be held in Mizoram on November 7, Chhattisgarh on November 7 and November 17, Madhya Pradesh on November 17, Rajasthan on November 25 and Telangana on November 30. The counting of votes will take place on December 3 in all the states. Of the five states, polling in Chhattisgarh will be held in two phases.

The Model Code of Conduct has come into force with the announcement of poll dates. The elections to five states are crucial as they are being held months before the Lok Sabha elections in April-May next year.