Hyderabad, July 01: Accepting the plea that there is no valid reason not to hold by-elections in Sircilla and Vemulawada Assembly constituencies, the State High Court on Wednesday ordered the Election Commission of India to hold simultaneous polling in all the 12 vacant seats in Telangana region on July 27.
The election commission had earlier cited pending legal petitions as the reason for its decision not to hold elections in the two constituencies.
The High Court agreed to the view of the Telangana Rashtra Samithi general secretary K Yadagiri Rao that the Election Commission has no powers to put off elections to any constituency unless the ground situation was not conducive to holding elections or if general elections were due within one year.
Mr Yadagiri Rao had pointed out that it was the EC’s duty to conduct elections within six months of the day when a seat falls vacant and this vacancy is conveyed to the EC.
——–INN