Telangana minister and TRS MLC Tummala Nageswara Rao and five other candidates on Thursday filed nominations for the May 16 by-poll to Palair Assembly segment in Khammam district of the State.

CPI(M) nominee P Sudarshan Rao is also among those who filed the nomination papers.

The bypoll is necessitated by the demise of R Venkata Reddy, who was a Congress MLA. The party fielded Reddy's widow Sucharita and appealed other parties to let her get elected unopposed as per a tradition followed in undivided Andhra Pradesh.

TDP and YSR Congress agreed to the request, but the ruling TRS and CPI (M) decided to enter the fray. Rao, the TRS nominee who holds the Roads and Buildings portfolio, is currently a member of the Legislative Council.

Friday is the last date for submitting nominations.

The BJP has decided not to fight the bypoll, the party MLC Ramachandra Rao said.