TRS Records Huge Win In Narayankhed By-Election

The ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi achieved a hat-trick in election victories when it wrested the Narayankhed Assembly seat from the Congress by a massive majority in the February 13th by-election.

In the prestigious by-election, the TRS candidate M Bhupal Reddy trounced his nearest opponent, P Sanjeeva Reddy of the Congress, by a margin of 53,625 votes.

The TRS candidate polled 93,076 votes, against the Congress nominee's tally of 39,451 votes and the TDP candidate M Vijayapal Reddy's 14,787 votes.

The TDP candidate earned the inglorious distinction of losing his deposit, and in an election that was won by his own brother (Bhupal Reddy and Vijayapal Reddy are brothers).

This is the TRS' third emphatic victory in a row over the past few months, following the ones in the Warangal Lok Sabha constituency by-election and the GHMC elections.

The by-election to the Narayankhed Assembly seat was necessitated following the death of the sitting Congress member P Kishta Reddy.

The Congress, by fielding Sanjeeva Reddy, the deceased member's son, had expected that he would be elected unopposed, in tune with the precedents. However, the ruling TRS chose not to hand over the seat to the Congress as the former had won eight of the 10 Assembly seats in the Medak district in the 2014 elections.

Thus, the TRS entered the poll fray by fielding Bhupal Reddy, who had came second and lost the seat to the Congress in the 2014 elections. The TDP, in a desperate attempt to keep its presence alive in the State in the wake of its own members deserting it, fielded the TRS nominee's own brother Vijayapal Reddy as its nominee. The TDP expected that by pitting the brothers against each other, it would benefit by splitting the votes.

The TRS took the by-election as a prestige issue and did not leave anything for granted. Hence, TRS supremo and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao entrusted the campaigning to his nephew and Irrigation Minister T Harish Rao, who relentlessly canvassed in every nook and corner of the constituency highlighting the developments achieved under the TRS regime. In addition to other senior leaders of the party, KCR himself participated in the electioneering a day before the last date by addressing a massive public meeting.

KCR's assurance to develop the constituency with special financial packages seemed to have had the desired effect on the minds of the electorate, who overwhelmingly extended their support by voting in favour of the TRS.

It is pertinent to note that while it was KCR's son and IT Minister K T Rama Rao was the architect of the TRS victory in the GHMC elections, it is the CM's nephew and Irrigation Minister Harish Rao who helped the Party to success in Narayankhed.