BRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Sunday cautioned party contestants to guard against flaws while filing out election affidavits and filling in their B Forms.
Rao’s directions come against the backdrop of two BRS legislators, elected in 2018, losing their seats in the House due to faulty declarations, while many others are facing court cases on similar grounds.
Kothagudem’s Vanama Venkateswara Rao and Gadwal’s B. Krishna Mohan Reddy were disqualified by the High Court, but the Supreme Court stayed the verdict in both cases.
The Chief Minister, who announced candidates for 115 constituencies nearly two months ago, handed over B Forms to 51 candidates in a meeting at Telangana Bhavan.
Stating that he could not sign all the B Forms, the Chief Minister said the remaining contestants would be given their papers on
Monday.
Rao’s son and BRS working president K.T. Rama Rao, nephew and minister T. Harish Rao, Chennur MLA Balka Suman and Jangaon nominee Palla Rajeshwar Reddy were among those who received their B Forms at Pragathi Bhavan.
Although the criterion for picking the 51 candidates to give the B Forms was not known, ministers Talasani Srinivas Yadav, P. Sabitha Indira Reddy, G. Jagadeish Reddy, K. Eshwar, E. Dayakara Rao, Ch Malla Reddy, Gangula Kamalakar, Deputy Speaker T. Padmarao Goud and former minister K. Srihari were among those who did not get their forms on the day.
The Chief Minister issued several diktats to the candidates, such as not getting into confrontations with election officials, taking assistance from legal experts while filling affidavits and fixing polling and counting agents in advance.