Telangana Assembly Elections to complete before December, say sources

Hyderabad: The Election Commission is reported to conduct assembly elections in the State in first week of December. The EC team, which visited the State for three days in connection with the election preparations, held a series of meetings with the high officials.

It is informed that it is advised to be ready for the elections according to the time. With this, the officials believe that there is a possibility that the assembly elections will be held in the state before the last elections, that is, before December 7.

The Election Commission team consists of Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Dharmendra Sharma, RK Gupta, Sanjay Kumar, Secretary Avinash Kumar, Principal Secretary Hirdesh Kumar and other Deputy Commissioners.

The team came to Hyderabad less than three days ago. A series of meetings were held for two days with the Chief Secretary, Collectors, IT and police officials of the State government. The team discussed regarding the conduct of elections in the State. It is reported that the officials have been made aware of the new technology brought by the Election Commission and the use of new applications.

The EC team discussed issues such as voter list, notification, implementation of election code, setting up of police check points, security of EVMs and other issues with the State government officials. Similarly, as part of the election arrangements, it seems that the transfers of officials who have been in the same place for three years have been ordered to be carried out quickly. CEO Vikas Raj, Joint CEO Satyavani and other officers participated in this meeting.

On Saturday, the Telangana government has given the assurance of all kinds of support to the Election Commission of India in the smooth conduct of Assembly elections in the State. An EC team led by Dharmendra Sharma and Shri Nitesh Kumar Vyas conducted a poll preparedness meeting with senior officials from different enforcement agencies, District Collectors, and Commissioner of Police (CPs) superintendents of police (SPs) of the Telangana State here.

The ECI delegation also held a productive meeting with top officials from various enforcement agencies, including the Income Tax Department (CBDT), Narcotics Control Board (NCB), Excise Department, State GST:CGST, Enforcement Directorate, State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), CISF, and the State Commercial Tax Department with a view to curtail use of money power in the elections.

Telangana State Chief Secretary A Santhi Kumari, met the EC delegation and discussed the preparations for the ensuing Assembly Elections in the State. During the meeting the chief secretary assured the ECI delegation of all logistical support required to conduct the elections smoothly. State DGP Anjani Kumar and other top officials were also present.