The News Minute | February 16, 2015 | 3:00 pm ISTThe Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has retained the Tirupati assembly seat in Andhra Pradesh with a huge majority.M. Suguna of the ruling party won the by-election, defeating her nearest rival R. Sreedevi of the Congress party by over 1.16 lakh votes.Out of 1,47,216 votes polled, Suguna bagged 1,26,152 votes.All other candidates including Sreedevi of Congress lost their deposit.The Congress candidate finished a poor second with just 9,628 votes.The main opposition party YSR Congress did not field a candidate in the by-election to reciprocate the TDP's gesture in not contesting the Allagadda assembly seat.The Tirupati by-election was necessitated by the death of Suguna's husband M. Venkatramna.M Venkatarama who was the Tirupati MLA passed away while undergoing treatment in a hospital in Chennai.After the Election Commission announced the dates of the bypolls, several local leaders met Sugunamma and extended their support to her. In what seems like the party, resorting to the sympathy factor of the voters, Naidu had also reportedly made it clear to the few aspirants that wished to represent the party that the widow would be the candidate.With IANSTweetFollow @thenewsminute