The Telangana High Court issued a notice to Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, asking him to respond to a petition which alleged that he had concealed the number of criminal cases pending against him, in his affidavit that was filed ahead of the Legislative Assembly in December last year. KCR contested and won from Gajwel constituency in Siddipet district in Telangana.
The petitioner, Thammala Srinivas, also hailed from the same district and had moved court seeking directions to set KCR’s victory aside. He claimed that while filing his nomination papers, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) chief declared only two cases against him under Form number 26, but later filed another affidavit, revealing that there were a total of 64 cases pending against him. The petitioner contended that this was against the provisions of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951.
Most of the cases on TRS leaders were foisted during the Telangana agitation for separate statehood, as the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh government was hostile to the movement. Many of these cases also were filed by the railway police as leaders would frequently stage ‘rail rokos’ and block trains, during their protests.
Issuing notices to the returning officer for the Gajwel Assembly constituency and other officials including the District Election Officer and District Collector of Siddipet besides the Election Commission of India, the High Court adjourned the case to four weeks.
KCR won from the state’s Gajwel Assembly constituency by a margin of over 50,000 votes, defeating his main contender, Vanteru Pratap Reddy from the Congress in December last year. Since then, Vanteru has joined the TRS. The TRS won 88 out of the 119 seats that were up for grabs in the Assembly and has since brought its count up to over a 100, as several sitting MLAs from the Congress decided to jump ship and join hands with KCR.
The Congress has accused the Chief Minister of ‘engineering’ these defections. #KhabarLive