Ticket aspirants anxious as Sravana masam nears
SNCN ACHARYULU
Hyderabad
For Assembly ticket aspirants in the Bharat Rashtra Samiti, the Congress, and the BharatiyaJanata Party,August is a crucial period as the main parties are likely to announce their choicest candidates during ‘Sravana masam’, which begins on 17th August. Sravana masam is widely considered to be an auspicious time for taking up new works or making decisions. This belief is very strong among most politicians, who go by public sentiments.
The BRS, the Congress and BJP have begun the exercise of selecting candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections. As per indications, no party may announce the list of candidates for all the 119 Assembly constituencies. The parties may announce the lists of candidates in a phased manner in two or three spells. In the first list, the parties are likely to announce the names of candidates for seats in which there are no disputes within party circles. In the BRS and the Congress, there are multiple aspirants in almost all the Assembly constituencies.
Going by the past, parties prefer to wait until the last minute for announcing the names of candidates to play it safe.But this time, parties are competing with one another in declaring their candidates in advance as a reflection of their level of confidence. Besides, parties feel that such early finalisation will enable the candidates to have more time for election campaigning in their constituencies.At the same time, if there are any disputes among ticket aspirants, parties will have time to mend matters.
Amidst all this, ticket aspirants are worked up over whether they will get the party ticket and if so, will it be in the first list, second list, or other subsequent lists.
Political parties are expecting the Election Commission to announce the Assembly elections schedule in September. They want to announce their candidates before the schedule is out. The BJP is likely to announce the first list with focus on seats where it has strong candidates. As for the other Assembly constituencies, it will take some time. Besides, the party is hopeful that piqued and dissatisfied ticket aspirants in BRS and Congress may come out and join it.
