HYDERABAD: The ball is set rolling for the electoral process in Telangana, with the filing of nominations for as many as 17 Lok Sabha seats in State beginning from Monday. The elections will be held in a single phase on April 11 for all the 17 constituencies. The last date to file nominations would be March 25. It may be noted that as March 21 is a closed holiday in view of the Hindu festival Holi, the nominations will not be accepted.
Nomination papers can be presented either by the candidate or his proposer, either before the Returning Officer (RO) or before any of the Assistant Returning Officers (ARO) specified by the RO, from 11 am to 3 pm on all working days. The last date for the withdrawal of candidature is March 28.
In case the candidate has been set up by a recognised national or State party, at least one elector of the constituency should be the proposer for the nomination. On the other hand, at least 10 electors of the constituency should stand as proposers, if the candidate has been set up by a registered unrecognised political party or even if he/she is an independent candidate. On the occasion, only a maximum of five persons can accompany the candidate.
Security Deposit
It is requisite that every candidate pays a security deposit of Rs 25,000 while filing the nomination. A candidate belonging to Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) categories, however, only need to pay half this amount, ie, Rs 12,500. Also, the election expenditure per candidate has been capped at Rs 70 lakh.
Taking the soaring temperatures into consideration, the election officials are planning to provide the voters with enough shade while queuing up to vote. Drinking water, along with ORS packets, will be made available to tackle dehydration. There are as many as 34,603 polling stations across the State.
Following the announcement of the schedule, Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajat Kumar said that Model Code of Conduct has now come into force across the State. The ECI has decided to use EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) in all polling stations. The CEO further stated that the candidates are required to file an affidavit (in Form 26) along with their nomination papers, which will include information on the criminal antecedents of the candidate, if any, assets (including the movable, immovable properties and investments even in foreign countries of the candidate, his/her spouse and dependents), liabilities and his/her educational qualifications.