Huzurnagar Campaigning Ends, Polling On October 21

The hectic electioneering by the various political parties for the by-election in for the Huzurnagar Assembly seat of Telangana came to an end this evening.

The polling will be held on October 21, and the results will be announced on 24.

The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of TPCC chief Uttam Kumar Reddy after being elected the Nalgonda MP. The main candidates in fray are the TRS' Saidi Reddy, the Congress' Padmavathi Reddy (the wife of Uttam Kumar Reddy) and the BJP's Kota Rama Rao.

All three parties conducted aggressive campaigning in the constituency for about 15 days, with the ruling TRS and the Congress taking the by-election as a prestige issue. The TRS is quite keen to wrest the seat from the Congress, and TRS president and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao was himself supposed to headline the TRS campaign, though he cancelled his public meeting on October 17 in the constituency ostensibly due to bad weather conditions, though fear of public backlash from the ongoing RTC strike may have played a role. Several ministers and other leaders of the TRS however campaigned vigorously.

On the last day of the campaign today, many top leaders campaigned for their respective party nominees. Among those who hit the streets in the constituency were Union Minister of State for Home and BJP leader G Kishan Reddy who campaigned for his party candidate Kota Rama Rao. He campaigned in Mattampally, Vepalasingaram, Mellacheruvu and Chinthalapalem, and called on people to vote for the BJP candidate.

Minister for Power G Jagadish Reddy and Minister for Tribal Welfare and Women Development Satyavathi Rathod also campaigned seeking votes for TRS candidate Shanampudi Saidi Reddy.

TPCC president N Uttam Kumar Reddy and working president A Revanth Reddy took part in a road show at Ponugode of Garidepally in support of their party candidate Padmavathi Reddy.

Meanwhile, Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar issued directions that all non-local elected representatives should leave the Huzurnagar Assembly constituency by 5 pm on Saturday. Television news channels have also been instructed not to telecast the election campaign after 5 pm.