Potential List Adjustments by BRS in Response to ONOE Legislation:
The BRS (Bharatiya Rashtra Samithi) has decided to revise its election strategy and expansion plans should simultaneous Assembly and Lok Sabha polls occur in April-May. According to party insiders, they are formulating a “Plan B,” which involves a review of the list of candidates initially announced for the Assembly elections, potentially transferring some of them to the Lok Sabha elections.
Even the party president and Chief Minister, K. Chandrashekar Rao’s intention to contest in two Assembly constituencies (Gajwel and Kamareddy) may be altered if the Assembly polls take place next year. While the Telangana Assembly elections were originally slated for December, the unexpected introduction of the “one nation, one election (ONOE)” concept by the central government has led the BRS leadership to speculate that the Telangana Assembly polls could be postponed until 2024.
Even if the implementation of “one nation, one election” experiences delays and challenges, the BRS leadership believes that the Centre might opt for concurrent Legislative Assembly elections in nine states, including Telangana, alongside the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 as a preliminary step toward the broader initiative.
As per the original schedule, Assembly elections were set for December in Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Mizoram. Meanwhile, Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, and Sikkim were planned for April. The Lok Sabha elections are currently scheduled for April-May 2024. The BRS leadership anticipates that the Centre may favor Assembly polls in these nine states along with the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
