In Telangana's Huzurabad by-poll, TRS min-turned-BJP neta Eatala Rajender poised to win

As counting is underway for the recently concluded by-polls in the Huzurabad assembly constituency in Telangana, Bharatiya Janata Party's Eatala Rajender is cruising ahead of the TRS (Telangana Rashtra Samithi). Till the 14th round of counting, BJP's Eatala Rajender is around 9221 votes ahead of the TRS' Gellu Srinivas Yadav.

Apart from TRS, Eatala Rajender is way ahead of Congress' Balmoor Venkat Narsing Rao by 61249 votes. In total, the BJP (till the time of publishing this article) has won 63,079 votes, while TRS has won 53,627 and Congress got 1,830 votes.

Huzurabad bypoll: A battle between TRS and BJP

It is pertinent to mention here that over 86% voter turnout was recorded in the bypoll to the Huzurabad assembly constituency in Telangana on Saturday. Huzurabad seat fell vacant after former Health Minister Eatala Rajender resigned from ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) and joined the BJP. On June 12, Rajender had submitted his resignation as Huzurabad MLA after he was sacked from the state Council of Ministers following allegations of land encroachment. The seat has become a battle of prestige for the ruling TRS and the Opposition alike.

In June, Rajender had slammed the TRS while his visit to Huzurabad and had stated that the bypolls will be a rehearsal for the 2024 elections. Rajender had further said that he left his ministry and resigned from Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) party "to follow ethics and to respect democracy." He added that his supporters are time and again being disturbed and he would not keep quiet over this issue.

The Election Commission (EC) had reviewed the situations related to pandemic, flood, festivals, cold conditions in certain regions, feedback from concerned States/UT and taken into consideration all facts and circumstances and it had decided to hold bye-elections to fill vacancies in three Parliamentary Constituencies of UT of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh and 30 vacancies in Assembly Constituencies of various States. 

(Inputs: ANI)

(Image: Venkat Balmoor/Gellu-Srinivas-Yadav/Facebook/ANI)