Losing state party status derails BRS plans for AP
As the party was hoping to contest next year’s elections in that state on its poll symbol ‘ambassador car’
image for illustrative purpose
Hyderabad: The Election Commission’s (EC) decision to withdraw State party recognition to Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Andhra Pradesh is a setback to the party which was hoping to contest next year’s elections in that state on its poll symbol ‘ambassador car.’
The party, formerly known as Telangana Rashtra Samithi headed by Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had appealed to the EC not to derecognise the party as it plans to contest the elections in the neighbouring state next year.
The party leaders say that they were not surprised by the EC’s move. BRS working president K T Rama Rao said since the BRS had not contested the elections in Andhra Pradesh in 2019, the action of the EC was a “mere technicality.”
The BRS lost the state party status in Andhra Pradesh as it did not meet the norms and conditions prescribed by the EC. The poll panel pointed out that the BRS did not contest Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in 2019 in Andhra Pradesh. “Hence, the poll performance of the party did not match any of the criteria laid down for recognition as a state party in the state.”
The BRS leadership also did not appear before the Commission to clear the issues raised by the EC in a letter sent to the party high command. The party, however, had made a request to the EC in this regard.
In March, the BRS had requested the EC not to derecognise the party in Andhra Pradesh as it plans to contest the 2024 elections. The EC had issued a notice asking the party why it should not be derecognised in Andhra Pradesh since it had not contested the Assembly and Parliamentary elections in 2019.
It was in 2004 that the EC recognised the TRS as a regional political party in undivided Andhra Pradesh. As the 2014 elections were held a few weeks before the formal bifurcation of the state, TRS remained a registered party. In 2018, TRS contested the Assembly elections in Telangana but did not contest the simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh in 2019. Hence, the EC had served the notice about the recognition status in Andhra Pradesh.
