28 nominations rejected for T'gana's Huzurabad, Andhra's Badvel bypolls

Hyderabad/Amaravati, Oct 11:  Nominations of 28 candidates have been rejected in Telangana's Huzurabad Assembly constituency and Andhra Pradesh's Badvel Assembly constituency, where by-elections are scheduled to be held on October 30.

Nomination papers of 19 candidates were rejected in Huzurabad. Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Shashank Goel said the nominations of 42 candidates were found valid.

Nominations of the candidates of all major parties were found in order during the scrutiny by election authorities. They include Gellu Srinivas Reddy of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Eatala Rajender of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Venkat Narsing Rao Balmoor of Congress.

A total of 61 candidates had filed their nominations. There are 31 independent candidates among 42 contestants whose papers were found valid.

The by-election was necessitated by the resignation of Rajender from the Assembly after he was dropped from the state Cabinet by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao following allegations of land encroachment.

Rajender, who also quit the TRS, joined the BJP in June after the saffron party promised to field him as its candidate.

Meanwhile, in Badvel constituency of neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, nominations of nine candidates were rejected during scrutiny. The Election Commission found nominations of 18 candidates, including those of the main political parties, in order.

The by-election was caused by the death of sitting legislator Dr G. Venkatasubbaiah of the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in March this year. The YSRCP has fielded his wife Dasari Sudha.

The BJP has fielded Punathala Suresh while former MLA P. M. Kamalamma is contesting on Congress ticket. The main opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is staying away from the contest.

As per the poll scheduled announced by the Election Commission, the last date for withdrawal of nominations in both Huzurabad and Badvel is October 13.

Polling will be held on October 30 while counting will be taken up on November 2.