Telangana: Not having full cabinet unconstitutional says

The Congress Wednesday slammed Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao for not appointing minimum number of ministers in his cabinet, terming it a "violation of the Constitution".

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) Spokesperson Sravan Dasoju said he wrote to Governor ESL Narasimhan seeking his immediate intervention on the absence of a full-fledged cabinet even after five weeks of formation of the new government in the state.

"The Article 164 (1A) says that the total number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister, in the Council of Ministers in a State shall not exceed fifteen per cent of the total number of members of the Legislative Assembly of that State, provided that the number of Ministers, including the Chief Minister in a State shall not be less than twelve.

However, violating the constitutional mandate, the present government as of now consists of only the Chief Minister and Home Minister," he told PTI.

Further, quoting Article 163 (1) of the Constitution he said in the absence of a full-fledged council of ministers, even the role of Governor has become "deceased and defunct" in Telangana, as there was none to aid and advice the constitutional head of the State.

TRS won the December 7 Assembly polls with a landslide majority.

KCR and Mahmood Ali were sworn in as Chief Minister and Home Minister respectively on December 13.

The cabinet was yet to be expanded.

Noting that there were 33 departments and 289 organisations in the government of Telangana, Sravan said it was not possible for one person to make decisions and monitor their execution.

Without minimum number of ministers, it was not only curtailing the functioning of the government, but also doing disservice to the people who participated in democratic elections and voted, he claimed.

Sravan alleged that Telangana State was now under zero-governance due to lack of cabinet ministers.

Observing that EVM hacking was a reality, the AICC spokesperson demanded that the Election Commission introduce ballot paper in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

On January 21, Syed Shuja, a self-proclaimed Indian cyber expert had claimed in London that the Electronic Voting Machines could be hacked and that the 2014 parliamentary election was "rigged".