Telangana Assembly Speaker Pocharam Srinivas Reddy and Ministers K T Rama Rao, T Harish Rao and V Prashant Reddy are among 51 candidates who on Sunday received the official endorsement of the BRS to contest in the upcoming polls from party chief K Chandrasekhar Rao.

In a gesture symbolising this, Rao handed over to the 51 candidates forms to file their nominations. Known as B-forms, the official document is considered proof that a particular candidate has been put up by a political party in the election.

Addressing the contesting candidates before handing over the B Forms, KCR said that except five or six sitting MLAs, all others have been given tickets to contest the polls. "I am happy about that. There will be several opportunities for those who did not get MLA tickets," the BRS president said.

As early as August, Rao, also known as KCR, had announced candidates for 115 out of the total 119 assembly seats, although the announcement of the date of the assembly elections, which are to be held on November 30, was made by the Election Commission only on October 9.

While issuing the B Forms starting today, Rao asked the candidates to utilise the services of legal experts and auditors while filling the nomination papers, so that there are fewer chances of rejection.

Before releasing the manifesto today, KCR paid homage to the statue of Telangana mother and garlanded Prof Jayashankar's bust, a BRS social media post said.

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