Election Commission's notice to TRS chief

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has served notices to Telangana Rashtra Samithi chief T K Chandrasekhar Rao and state information technology minister K Venkata Reddy for allegedly violating the model code of conduct while campaigning for by-elections in the Telangana region.

“TRS leader reportedly used a word sannasi (equivalent of saying useless or spineless) with reference to the state home minister (Sabita Reddy) during his campaign at Sircilla on July 23,” state chief electoral officer Subba Rao told reporters in Hyderabad on Sunday.

He also said that on July 22 the Mr Chandrasekhara Rao told people at Vemulawada that they should take money and liquor from candidates of other parties but vote for the TRS. Both the statements were found to violate of the model code.

The Election Commission had issued a notice to the Telangana Rashtriya Samiti president following a complaint by the ruling Congress over a statement in which he had said that Telangana would turn into a furnace if statehood was not realised after the Sri Krishna committee submitted its report by the end of December.

“The Election Commission was not satisfied with his explanation regarding this statement and is of the considered view that he, as a responsible political leader, should not have made such statement in public,” Mr Rao said.
The information technology minister was served a notice by the election commission for making “a lot of promises” to the electorate while campaigning, he said.