Supporters of K Chandrasekhar Rao's party celebrate after Parliament cleared the bill that makes Telangana India’s 29th state (File pic)
Andhra Pradesh, which will be bifurcated on June 2, will vote undivided for the next national and state government. While Telangana - the region that will become a state - votes on April 30, the other two regions of Seemandhra will vote on May 7.
(Telangana state will be born on June 2)The undivided Andhra Pradesh has 42 parliamentary seats and 294 assembly seats.
While results for the elections will be declared on May 16, the old and new states will get their chief ministers only after June 2 since that's when Telangana will officially be founded as India's 29th state.
(World's biggest election: see India's voting schedule here)"Whoever is elected MLA (state legislator) as per law will automatically become member of the concerned state," said Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath.
In February, parliament cleared the plan that carves out the region of Telangana as a new southern state, after months and years of protests in different regions of Andhra Pradesh.
Telangana says that for decades, its resources have been exploited by the two other regions referred to as Seemandhra, which are against the division of the state.
The move to turn Telangana into a state was fashioned by the Congress as a vote-getter in the region. But the delays in getting the proposal cleared and the fact that Telangana will not vote as its own state have irked K Chandrasekhar Rao, the man who fronted the movement for statehood. Earlier this week, he ruled out the merger that the Congress sought with his party, but indicated that he may be available for an alliance. "The people of Telangana would have been much more jubilant to have elections in their own state," said his son KT Rama Rao today.
The euphoria of a new state is a critical element the TRS is banking on to make inroads in constituencies where it still doesn't have a winning presence.
(KCR rejects merger with Congress, alliance not ruled out yet)Telangana has 17 Lok Sabha and 119 assembly constituencies, while Seemandhra has 25 Lok Sabha constituencies and 175 assembly seats.