TRS takes early lead in Huzurnagar bypoll

Ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) has taken initial lead in the bye-elections to Huzurnagar Assembly constituency, where the counting of votes began on Thursday.

S. Saidi Reddy of TRS established early lead of 2,476 votes in the first round over his nearest rival Padmavathi Reddy of opposition Congress party.

Election Commission officials said there will be a total of 22 rounds of counting. They have arranged 14 tables for the counting process, which is likely to be completed by 1 p.m.

The constituency, with over 2.36 lakh voters, had recorded 84.75 per cent polling in the bye-election held on October 21.

A total of 28 candidates were in the fray in the bypoll, necessitated by the resignation of state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy following his election to Lok Sabha from Nalgonda constituency in the recent polls.

The Congress Party fielded Uttam Kumar Reddy's wife Padmavathi Reddy. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) also fielded their candidates in the first bye-election since TRS retained power in December 2018.

In 2018, Uttam Kumar Reddy had retained Huzurnagar seat by defeating Saidi Reddy of TRS with a margin of 7,466 votes.IANS