Singareni holds key to Nalgonda

Hyderabad: A decision on whether or not to go in for a bypoll to the Nalgonda Lok Sabha seat will depend on the outcome of the October 5 Singareni Collieries union elections.

If the TRS-backed Telangana Boggu Gani Karmikula Sangam wins against the combined Op-position, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao is most likely to ask Nal-gonda MP Gutta Sukhen-der Reddy to resign and cause a byelection. Mr Sukhender Reddy was elected to the Lok Sabha in 2014 on a Congress ticket but defected to the TRS, 

Mr Sukhender Reddy told this newspaper: “It is for the Chief Minister to decide whether or not there should be a byelection. I am prepared to resign provided he asks me to.”

Senior Congress MLA and former minister from Nalgonda Komatireddy Venkat Reddy spoke about a possible bypoll at an event on Thursday, stating, “It is certain that Nalgonda will have a byelection in the next few weeks. If the Congress high command asks, I will contest and defeat the TRS nominee.”

He said that it was good for the people of Nal-gonda as funds would be pumped into the region by the government, just like the Telugu Desam did for the Nandyal bypoll in AP. “Voters will get so much money from the ruling party that they can repay their loans,” he said.

The idea of holding the election now in the Congress citadel of Nalgonda is to prove that the TRS is able to win the election despite the Opposition criticism al-leging lack of development and welfare in the state after three-and-a-half years of the TRS being in power.

In 2014, Mr Sukhender Reddy won by over two lakh votes; the Congress and the CPI won six of the seven Assembly segments in the Nalgonda Lok Sabha constituency. Sources said Mr Chan-drasekhar Rao was determined to cause the bypoll for the Nalgonda LS seat to show to the world that the TRS could win from any part of the state.

It is believed Mr Rao firmed up the plan after the Telugu Desam won the Nandyal Assembly bypoll last month in AP.

As per Section 151A of the Representation of People’s Act (RPA), the Election Commission is not under any obligation to hold a bypoll to any seat that is declared vacant when the rest of the term of the House is less than a year.

Mr Sukhender Reddy first has to get his resignation accepted by Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan after convincing her that he has tendered it voluntarily. If the resignation is accepted, the Lok Sabha Secretariat will need to declare the seat vacant.

The Election Commission will need to hold the bypoll within six months after the vacancy is declared. But this should not run afoul of RPA Section 151A.