Hyderabad, Nov 2 (IANS) Ahead of the Telangana Assembly election, the Income Tax Department (I-T) on Thursday conducted searches at various places in Hyderabad including at the houses of some Congress leaders.

The I-T sleuths were conducting searches since early morning on the premises of Badangpet Mayor and Congress leader Chigirintha Parijatha Narasimha Reddy.

About six officials were conducting the searches at her house in Balapur.

Parijatha is currently in Tirupati while her husband Narasimha Reddy is in Delhi.

Narasimha Reddy's mother and daughter were present in the house at the time of searches.

Parijantha had last year resigned from TRS (now BRS) and joined Congress party. She is Mayor of Badangpet, the newly-formed municipal corporation on the outskirts of Hyderabad.

The I-T searches were also on at the premises of Congress leader K. Laxma Reddy in Shamshabad on the city outskirts.

He is the Congress candidate from Maheshwaram constituency.

The Congress has criticised the I-T raids on its leaders. It alleged that this proves that BRS and BJP are hand in glove.

Party workers staged a protest outside Laxma Reddy's farm house when the I-T searches were on.

Its leaders questioned the raids even before the candidates filed their nominations and on the basis of allegations.

They said the raids were aimed at mentally harassing the Congress candidates.

Elections to 119-member Telangana Assembly are scheduled on November 30.