EC team to visit Telangana to review poll preparedness

New Delhi, Sep 7: The Election Commission will send a team of officials to Hyderabad next week before it takes a decision on the timing of elections to the Telangana assembly that was dissolvedon Thursday.

"The Commission has decided to send a team of ECI officers to assess the situation in the state regarding poll preparedness," a statement by the election body said on Friday.

A team of Election Commission officers headed by Umesh Sinha, senior Deputy Election Commissioner will be visiting Hyderabad on Tuesday and will give its report to the Commission after completion of the visit, the statement said.

The statement comes a day after the Telangana government headed by K. Chandrashekar Rao dissolved the assembly and the governor acted on the cabinet decision to end the tenure of the assembly whose term was there till June next year.

Earlier in the day, Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat on Friday said that any astrological predictions will not decide the date and time of elections for Telangana Assembly, which was dissolved on Thursday.

"We will assess if Telangana elections can be held with other 4 states. Any astrological predictions (over dates) made by anyone is notwithstanding."