Hyderabad:The Congress on Wednesday named Abhishek Manu Singhvi as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha bypoll in Telangana.
As per the schedule released by the Election Commission, the poll notification will be issued on August 14 and the bypoll will be held on September 3. The results will announced on the same day.
The seat fell vacant with the resignation of BRS MP K. Keshava Rao, who joined the Congress. His six-year tenure was supposed to end on April 9, 2026. However, he tendered his resignation last month on July 5 and joined the Congress forcing the bypoll.
Going by the majority in the Legislative Assembly, the Congress victory is a foregone conclusion in the bypoll. The winner will hold the office of Rajya Sabha MP for the remainder of Keshava Rao’s tenure.
Singhvi lost the Rajya Sabha poll from Himachal Pradesh in February this year due to cross-voting by nine Congress MLAs in favour of the BJP. Although the Congress as ruling party in Himachal Pradesh had required a majority to ensure victory for Singhvi, he lost the election due to the cross voting. Party high command has now decided to send Singhvi to the Rajya Sabha from Telangana.
The buzz in political circles is that this bypoll could be unanimous in favour of the Congress. They predict that the BRS would not field its candidate as it lacked sufficient numbers. In the Rajya Sabha elections, the MLAs are the voters.
In the 119-member Legislative Assembly, the Congress has a strength of 65 MLAs. The main opposition BRS has 38 MLAs but 10 of its MLAs joined Congress so far reducing its strength to 28 and increasing the strength of the Congress to 75. The other opposition parties such as the BJP and the AIMIM with a strength of 8 and 7 MLAs respectively lack sufficient numbers even to field their candidate.
This makes the Congress victory certain in the bypoll. Whether the election will be held or not depends on the BRS fielding its candidate. The notification for the Rajya Sabha elections will be issued on August 14 and the last date for filing of nomination papers is August 21.
