The Congress Party has appealed to the Election Commission of India to cancel or stall the tender process initiated by the Telangana Government ahead of elections to the State Assembly.
Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Senior Vice-President and Chairman of Election Commission Coordination Committee G Niranjan submitted a memorandum to Rajiv Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner, seeking suspension of the tenders until the elections are completed in the first week of December 2023.
The Telangana Government called for global tenders for the sale of 25 lakh tonnes of paddy produced in the 2022-23 season. It cancelled the tenders it had called for two months ago, owing to the poor response, and called for fresh tenders this month after easing the eligibility criteria to allow bidding from even smaller traders and millers.
“The State Government called for six tenders on October 6 for the sale of 25 lakh tonnes of rabi paddy procured by it at the minimum support price. It issued a corrigendum on October 17 at a time when the Model Code of Conduct is in force for the upcoming election,” Niranjan stated in the memorandum.
“The e-auction would happen on October 27 and the total value of e-auction is pegged at about Rs 5,000 crore,” he said.
The Opposition alleged that the ruling party may divert the tender process proceeds to to fund its poll campaign.