ECI announces objections to Kavith’s party’s TRS acronym and seeks new name

Telangana Rakshana Samiti Chief K. Kavitha. File | Photo credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has written to the Telangana Rakshana Sena (TRS) to change the party’s name and submit alternative names in view of objections raised by several other organizations with similar names over the acronym.

TRS founder Kalvakuntla Kavitha has apparently received two objections raised with the ECI and the party has been asked to submit three names within 15 days. A party’s application for registration may be closed if it does not receive a response within the specified period.

However, sources said TRS chief K Kavitha sent a reply as requested, refuting the objections raised. The party claimed that one of the objections was from the Telangana Rajya Samiti (TRS), registered by a person from Siddipet who is said to be close to BRS MLA T. Harish Rao.

The particular party has registered the name in 2022 but has not contested any elections so far, the ECI’s reply said. So the objections do not stand against the Telangana Rakshana Sena which is active in public life and deals with people’s issues.

Another objection was from a party named TRS in Maharashtra, but it is not active in politics. Ms. Kavitha’s TRS argued that the objection is ridiculous as this particular party is neither active in Telangana nor has anything to do with Telangana politics.

In its reply to the ECI, TRS also questions why only two objections were sent to it to get a response and questions why it was asked to change the name of the party without being informed about the remaining objections.

Ms. Kavitha announced the formation of her political party Telangana Rashtra Sena but later officially launched it as Telangana Rakshana Sena after leaving Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) which was renamed from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) founded by her father and BRS chief K Chandrashekhar Rao.

During the registration process, Ms. Kavitha submitted five names to the ECI – Telangana Praja Jagruthi, Telangana Jagruthi, Telangana Rakshana Sena, Telangana Rashtra Jagruthi and Telangana Praja Shakthi.

The ECI accepted the Telangana Rakshana Sena with the condition that final approval would be given only if there were no objections to the name.

The stakes are high for the TRS acronym

The political tussle over the iconic TRS acronym, synonymous with the Telangana statehood movement and long associated with former Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, has resurfaced with a fresh ECI announcement.

The acronym TRS became popular after KCR founded the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) in 2001 to spearhead the movement for a separate state of Telangana.

After Telangana was formed in 2014, the party remained TRS until October 2022 when KCR renamed it BRS with ambitions to expand beyond Telangana and play a bigger role in national politics.

Because of his two decades of association with the Telangana statehood movement, the acronym TRS continues to evoke the same sentiment and Ms. Kavitha has decided to name her new party as Telangana Rakshana Sena with the same acronym TRS.

Ms. Kavitha argued that the present BRS has no right to claim the acronym TRS as it has decided to leave the legacy of Telangana and change its name.

Published – 04 Jul 2026 17:59 IST