Hyderabad: The Election Commission (EC) has rejected Kalvakuntla Kavitha’s application to register ‘Telangana Rakshana Sena’ (TRS) as a new party after receiving nearly 700 objections to the name. The commission has asked her to come up with three alternatives within two weeks or the registration would be cancelled.Kavitha had announced the new party in April with a name strikingly similar to the party her father and former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had launched – Telangana Rashtra Samithi – which was later renamed as BRS.Sources confirmed that EC asked the party to suggest alternate names. However, they claimed only two objections, one from Siddipet-based Telangana Rajya Samithi, a registered party for several years, and Solapur-based TRS, were sent to Kavitha and they were clarified to the commission.“We have asked EC for details of all the objections and the party is ready to clarify each and every objection raised on the title TRS,” a source in Kavitha’s party said. They would also not hesitate to move court, if EC rejects its title registration.Kavitha had launched her political entity and unveiled the party flag at a convention centre on the outskirts of Hyderabad on April 25 and even named various committees. As per the mandatory procedures for party registrations, Kavitha issued an advertisement on May 1 in an English newspaper and on May 3 in a Hindi newspaper, seeking objections on the party title.Sources said EC had received objections over use of the party acronym ‘TRS’. Siddipet-based Telangana Rajya Samithi (TRS) and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) also filed objections. BRS said that the TRS acronym was linked to the Telangana sentiment, that the party had fought for a separate state for over a decade and even now many people in Telangana consider the party as TRS in the rural areas.TRS had transformed to BRS in 2022 to go national and reportedly asked EC not to allot TRS to another party as it would create confusion among the voters. Maharashtra’s Solapur-based Telangana Rastrasamajika Senna (TRS) also applied for party registration with EC in April last week. EC is likely to take a decision on Solapur TRS party soon, the sources added.
