Addanki Dayakar, Balmoor Venkat set for nominated MLC posts

Hyderabad: The Congress high command is learnt to have finalised Addanki Dayakar and Balmoor Venkat as MLC candidates for the bypolls under MLA quota scheduled for January 29. However, the party is yet to declare the names officially, with sources indicating it is expected on Wednesday.

Dayakar and Venkat's victories are a foregone conclusion, as the Congress has a strength of 65 MLAs, including one CPI MLA, while the main opposition, BRS, which has just 39 MLAs, is not contesting the election.

The last date to file nominations is January 18 and both these candidates are likely to be declared winners unopposed on January 18.

The Election Commission of India (ECI) decided to hold separate elections for the two seats on the same day, making Congress’ victory certain. If the ECI held a common election for both seats, BRS could have got one seat with the support of AIMIM.

Dayakar and Venkat were strong contenders for Assembly tickets from the Thungathurthy and Huzurabad constituencies, respectively, but were dropped from the final list of candidates and promised nominated posts after Assembly polls.

Dayakar contested from Thungathurthy Assembly seat in the 2014 and 2018 Assembly polls but lost both times to BRS candidate Gadari Kishore. The Congress opted for Mandula Samel this time, who duly defeated Gadari Kishore.

Venkat, who is NSUI Telangana president, contested from Huzurabad in the bypoll held in October 2021 but lost to BJP's Etala Rajendar.

In the recent Assembly polls, the Congress leadership opted for Voditala Pranav in Venkat’s stead, but Pranav lost to BRS’ Padi Kaushik Reddy.