Hyderabad: Former minister D.K. Samarasimha Reddy, who joined the Congress on Friday, demanded that the Centre impose President’s rule in Telangana state to conduct free and fair elections. Mr Samarasimha Reddy expressed surprise over the rapidity with which Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan accepted the recommendation of the Chandrasekhar Rao Cabinet to dissolve the Assembly.
He asked how the Governor could have agreed to dissolve the Assembly without inquiring as mandated under Article 356. He said Mr Rao was not able to explain why the Assembly was dissolved when the TRS had a majority. He said Mr Rao was scared of the Congress-TD alliance.
Meanwhile, former minister Marri Sashidhar Reddy said the Election Commission should act impartially in conducting the Assembly elections. He said that the Supreme Court had never said that elections could be conducted by setting aside the voter list revision process. Mr Shashidhar Reddy said that according to Article 324 of the Constitution, top priority should be given to revision of the voter’s list. He said the Election Commission had no right to avoid this.
