The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won the Huzurnagar Assembly bypoll on Thursday, with its candidate Shanampudi Saidi Reddy sweeping all seven mandals and recording the highest victory margin in the constituency, and across the 12 Assembly constituencies in undivided Nalgonda.
Mr. Saidi Reddy, who secured 1,13,095 votes, won by a margin of 43,358 votes.
Distant runner-up
Congress candidate N. Padmavati Reddy was a distant runner-up with 69,737 votes. BJP’s Kota Rama Rao got 2,639 votes, the party’s second-best figure so far at Huzurnagar, and TDP’s Chava Kiranmaye managed to bag 1,827 votes.
Except Independent candidate Sapavath Suman, who got 2,697 votes, none of the other 14 Independents crossed the 1,000-mark. Television and YouTube personality Teenmar Mallanna got 894 votes. A total of 506 votes went to NOTA.
The byelection was necessitated by the resignation of three-time sitting MLA and State Congress chief N. Uttam Kumar Reddy after his election as Nalgonda MP.
The huge loss the Congress suffered will remain an embarrassment in its heartland. Right from the 2,476 vote margin in round one to round 22, Mr. Saidi Reddy maintained the lead over the Congress candidate. His margin of 748 votes in round 22 was the minimum of the day, and officials decided for an extra round 23, to count VVPAT slips of a defective control unit.
All the 12 seats in undivided Nalgonda, except Munugode, are now with the TRS.
