Hyderabad: In a significant development, Telangana Jana Samiti candidates are likely to contest with the Congress’ election symbol of hand, instead of the match box, their own symbol.
According to sources, leaders of the two parties met Central Election Commission officials in Delhi on Thursday and sought their opinion with regard to certain legal issues.
They asked whether these candidates would be treated as TJS MLAs or Congress legislators in the event of their election victory. EC officials said that this was to be decided by the Assembly Speaker.
Congress leaders told their TJS counterparts that the people were not familiar with their symbol, the match box. Neutral voters could be confused and may not vote for the TJS, which would only benefit the TRS. The Congress ‘hand’ is very popular and can be easily identified, they said.
Sources said the TJS has not taken any final decision on the issue but the Congress is insisting that they contest under the hand symbol in the interest of Opposition unity.
In the TJS case, if the Speaker recognises them as separate group in the Assembly they will not attract the anti defection law insofar as quitting the alliance is concerned.
