Hyderabad: The Narayankhed Assembly constituency in Medak district recorded 81.72 per cent (provisional) turnout in the bypoll held on Saturday.
The bypoll was necessitated by the death of Congress MLA P. Kista Reddy. The ruling TRS is confident of a massive majority in favour of its candidate M. Bhupal Reddy whereas TD candidate M. Vijay Pal Reddy and Congress candidate P. Sanjiva Reddy haven’t made any predictions.
Counting of votes will be taken up on February 16. This particular Assembly segment is considered to be the bastion of the Congress over the last five decades, except for 1994 when TD candidate M. Vijay Pal Reddy had won.
Congress leaders expected sympathy for their candidate in view of the death of Kista Reddy, who was quite popular in the constituency. The TD was more or less banking on the voters being split between the Congress and TRS.
However after ground-level surveys before the poll schedule was announced, the TRS stepped into this remote area for electoral gains.
Incidentally, the TRS won the bypolls held earlier for Medak and Warangal Lok Sabha seats, both of which held by it.
If the TRS wins the Narayankhed Assembly seat, it would be the first time the ruling party would defeat the Congress in a seat held by the main Opposition party.
