Rubbishing the media reports about postponement of Assembly elections for six months due to bifurcation process, Chief electoral officer of the state Banwarlal said “Elections for state Assembly and Lok Sabha will be held simultaneously as per schedule. We are already preparing for conducting elections. Notifications for elections will be issued on the last week of February or 1st week of March. Once the enrolment process ends on January 25th, EC will be busy with elections preparations. So, we appeal all the people to ensure they have enrolled their names and make corrections if any on the special drive conducted across the state on the eve of National Voters Day on January 25th.

Central election Commission has convened a meeting with all recognized political parties at New Delhi on 4th February to chalk-out the elections schedule. Therefore, it is clear now that whether the state is divided or not, elections for state Assembly will be held simultaneously with Lok Sabha elections.

Hence, the political parties in the state have to hurry or it will be too late to do anything. So far, except Lok Satta, no other parties have officially announced their candidates’ names for either Assembly or Lok Sabha seats. However, TDP and YCP have confirmed tickets to some candidates in some constituencies.