TDP, Janasena announce first joint list of 118 seats for Assembly polls
Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh), Feb 24: TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu and Janasena chief Pawan Kalyan on Saturday announced their first joint list of 118 seats for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh.
The two leaders, however, said the seat allocation has been done keeping in mind the "need to accommodate" BJP in case the saffron party decides to join the alliance.
TDP candidates will be contesting from 94 constituencies while Janasena will contest from 24 seats, as per the first list.
"On this auspicious occasion, both TDP and Janasena are ready to go for the polls. I wish this news to be good tidings for everyone in the state. This union is for the future of the state. This is the first step for a great effort," said Naidu, addressing a press conference at his Andhra Pradesh residence in Undavalli on the TDP-Janasena alliance.
Observing that the TDP-Janasena alliance "has the blessings of the BJP", Kalyan read out the names of five Janasena candidates and promised to reveal the remaining 19 names in a couple of days.
Explaining the rationale behind the Janasena taking only 24 seats, Kalyan noted that it is important to take a lower number of seats than experimenting with a higher number of seats.
"We have to first put the state on the right track, keeping the future of the state ahead of individual and party prospects," said the actor-politician.
Including the three Lok Sabha seats allocated for Janasena in the alliance, he noted that it is as good as the party contesting some 40 Assembly seats.
Meanwhile, Naidu highlighted that if the BJP also comes along with their alliance then those issues will also be discussed at the right time to take the right decisions.
"This alliance is for the future of the state, not for any two individuals or two parties. Both the parties took the decision to work together for the welfare of five crore people. This is a historic day for the state," said Naidu.
For his ninth election, Naidu highlighted that he had done the most intense exercise of zeroing in on the candidates, unlike previously, even during the times of united Andhra Pradesh.
Taking the opinion of 1.1 crore people from various sources, Naidu said the 94 TDP candidates have been selected after a multi-pronged analysis and filtering.
He asserted that the selected candidates are people who are in touch with the masses, desired by people, approved by the people and who can 'resiliently' face the polls and opponents.
Further, the opposition leader observed that the TDP gave prominence to youth, women, those from BC communities and educated people in selecting candidates.
Out of the 94 candidates, Naidu said 23 are first-timers, three doctors, one retired IAS officer, 25 post-graduates, 51 graduates and three doctorates.
Naidu called on the Janasena and TDP leaders to cooperate with each other for mutual benefit wherever both the parties are contesting.
"Wherever Janasena is contesting the TDP should cooperate and wherever TDP is contesting the Janaseana should cooperate. Both should work with an understanding for creating belief in people and victory will be easy, nobody can stop us...," Naidu added.
Seat-sharing arrangement for the remaining 57 of the 175 Assembly constituencies are expected to be announced soon.
As part of the alliance, Janasena will contest three Lok Sabha seats of the total 25 from the state.
TDP sources said currently discussions were underway with the BJP for a possible pre-poll alliance.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters, Andhra Pradesh BJP chief D Purandeswari said alliances in the southern state would be decided by the party high command and as of now the state unit is gearing up its activities in all the constituencies.
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Loco pilots' union alleges manipulation of working hours to hide overutilisation
New Delhi (PTI): The loco pilots' union has alleged that various railway zones are manipulating the working hours of train drivers by falsely entering duty breaks during their 12 to 16-hour-long trips in the online Crew Management System (CMS) to hide their overutilisation.
As per railway norms, a loco pilot cannot be asked to work more than 9 hours at a stretch and no more than 11 hours in total from sign-on to sign-off. Since 2021, the Safety Department of the Railway Board has instructed all zonal railways that 80 per cent of trips should be completed within the 9-hour limit.
The Railway Ministry had earlier stated that it has not only initiated aggressive recruitment of loco pilots but also created several amenities for them, including urinal facilities in over 900 locomotives, air-conditioning systems in over 7,000 locomotives, and upgraded all 558 running rooms across the rail network.
The All India Loco Running Staff Association (AILRSA) stated that safety regulations prohibit overburdening loco pilots with excessive duty hours. They alleged that rail administrations are regularly violating these rules to compensate for a 15–20 per cent staff shortage.
"Though this illegal practice is happening in many divisions and zones, we have started by raising the issue with the General Manager of East Central Railway (ECR). We have submitted a memorandum compiling several issues that affect loco pilots' working conditions, including the false trip break," said Ashok Kumar Raut, General Secretary of AILRSA.
The ECR has not responded to the allegations.
However, following Raut's representation, one of ECR's divisions, Dhanbad, issued a circular dated July 15, 2025, warning of strict action against the false insertion of duty breaks between sign-on and sign-off in the CMS.
"A direction is being issued to all to not break duty hours between the sign-on and sign-off of the crew while registering it in CMS (Crew Management System). If it is happening in any crew lobby, it must be stopped immediately. If such cases are found, strict disciplinary action will be taken," the circular stated.
Raut explained that lobby officials record the sign-on and sign-off times of loco pilots in the CMS when their shift starts and ends, respectively. However, in cases where a loco pilot works for more than 12 hours, contractual staff at the lobby are allegedly inserting fake duty breaks -- ranging from 45 minutes to 2 hours -- on verbal orders from senior officials to conceal overutilisation.
Each railway division submits monthly crew working hours data to the Railway Board in a fixed format. These duty breaks are reportedly used to avoid detection of excessive working hours, which violates operational safety norms.
"This illegal and unsafe practice of inserting duty breaks in the system is being done on the verbal orders of some senior officials, such as the Chief Traction Loco Controller and Chief Crew Controller. Railways has outsourced CMS data entry work to private personnel, and these officials instruct them to insert such breaks," Raut alleged.
He added, "I have gathered data from some divisions on illegal trip breaks by lobby staff. In May and June 2025, in the Dhanbad division alone, there were 2,719 such cases; 1,883 in the Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyay Nagar division; and 785 in the Danapur division."
He also claimed that the Samastipur and Sonpur divisions manipulated working hours in 304 and 83 cases, respectively.
Earlier this year, in April, South Central Railway reviewed CMS data on loco pilots’ working hours and found that, in 545 cases in the Secunderabad division, 42 in Vijayawada, 26 in Guntakal, three each in Guntur and Nanded, and one in the Hyderabad division, goods train loco pilots worked between 13:55 and 14:00 hours but were compelled to feed incorrect times to hide actual duty hours.
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