Hyderabad: Senior Congress leader and renowned lawyer Abhishek Manu Singhvi filed his nomination papers as the Congress candidate for the lone Rajya Sabha seat bypoll in Telangana on Wednesday. Singhvi will be declared elected unopposed as the BRS has stayed out of the contest due to lack of numbers, and the poll scheduled for September 3 becomes infructuous.
With Singhvi's election, the number of Congress Rajya Sabha members from Telangana will rise to three.
Accompanied by Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, minister N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and AICC Telangana affairs in-charge Deepa Dasmunsi, Singhvi filed his nomination papers with the returning officer in the Assembly premises.
The bypoll was necessitated by the resignation of BRS MP K. Keshava Rao on July 4, as he joined Congress. Rao's six-year tenure was supposed to end on April 9, 2026. Singhvi will be left with a term of less than 20 months.
Prior to the Assembly elections in December 2023, BRS held all seven seats from Telangana in the Rajya Sabha. But after the BRS lost power, the Congress, with its increased numbers, elected Renuka Chowdhury and M. Anil Kumar Yadav to the Upper House in February.
The remaining four MPs in the Rajya Sabha are from BRS. The term K. R. Suresh Reddy will end on April 9, 2026, along with Singhvi, and that of Bandi Partha Saradhi Reddy and Divakonda Damodar Rao on June 21, 2028.
The tenure of Renuka Chowdhury, Anil Kumar Yadav and , Vaddraju Ravichandra of the BRS will end on April 2, 2030.
