The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won the by-election to the Banswada Assembly constituency in Nizamabad district with a thumping majority of nearly 50 thousand votes at the end of counting on Monday.
The TRS candidate and former Minister Srinivas Reddy polled 83,845 votes and won over his nearest Congress rival Sangem Srinivas Goud who secured 33,356 votes. The Congress was defeated by a margin of 49,889 votes, but its candidate managed to retain his security deposit.
The Telugu Desam Party, which had held sway over the constituency ever since the party was founded by the late N.T. Rama Rao, did not field its candidate in this election. The resignation of Mr. Srinivas Reddy from the TDP and his membership into the Assembly before joining TRS resulted in the by-election.
Out of the total of over 1,59,732 lakh voters in the constituency, 1,22,872 exercised their franchise. After the results were announced, the TRS leaders alleged that the TDP was involved in ‘political match-fixing’ with the Congress by keeping away from the by-election and ensuring that its supporters voted for the ruling party.
Describing it a landslide victory, TRS leaders said that both the TDP and the Congress nominees would have forfeited their deposits, had TDP contested the election.
