Within hours of the Election Commission of India announcing the schedule for the Assembly bye-polls on Saturday, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party has announced its candidate for the Huzurnagar constituency. Sanampudi Saidi Reddy, who unsuccessfully contested against Congress’ Uttam Kumar Reddy during the Assembly Elections in 2018, has been given yet another opportunity.
Saidi Reddy had lost to Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee President Uttam Kumar Reddy by a margin of 7,466 votes in 2018. Bye-polls in Huzurnagar constituency are being held as Uttam Kumar Reddy had resigned as the legislator leaving the seat vacant, after winning the Nalgonda parliamentary constituency in the 2019 Lok Sabha Elections.
Meanwhile, the Congress and BJP are yet to announce their candidates. Last date for filing the nomination is on September 30. The election will be held on October 21, and the results would be declared on October 24.
The Congress is marred with infighting. While TPCC president Uttam Kumar has announced that his wife Padmavathi Reddy, former MLA of Kodad will be the Congress candidate, party working president Revanth Reddy has objected to it and has declared that Chamala Kiran Kumar will be the candidate.
However, several senior leaders like Jana Reddy and Komatireddy Venkat Reddy back Uttam, as they feel that only Padmavathi can win that seat, as she has been working in the constituency and Uttam also holds influence in the constituency.
In the 2018 Assembly polls, the TRS won 88 out of 119 seats. After 12 MLAs from the Congress and one MLA from TDP defected to the ruling party, the total count of the TRS remains at 101.
The BJP which remained an insignificant player during the Assembly Elections, with the party winning just one seat, seems rejuvenated after four of its candidates were elected as MPs in the Lok Sabha Elections.