TDP set to re-enter RS with bypoll to 3 seats

Vijayawada: With the Election Commission of India on Tuesday announcing the byelections to three Rajya Sabha seats from the state on December 20, ruling TDP is set to re-enter the Upper House of Parliament.

The party currently has no representation in Rajya Sabha.

The ruling NDA, headed by TDP, is sure to win all three seats, going by its strength in the 175-member Assembly. The TDP has 135 members while its allies, the Jana Sena and the BJP have 21 and 8 seats, respectively.

The YSRCP, which lost power to the NDA in the elections held in May, has only 11 MLAs.

The TDP had stayed away from Rajya Sabha elections held in February this year due to a lack of sufficient numbers in the Assembly. For the first time in its four-decade history, it had no representation in Rajya Sabha.

The vacancies were caused by the recent resignations of Mopidevi Venkataramana Rao, Beeda Mastan Rao Yadav, and Ryaga Krishnaiah, all of the YSRCP.

While Venkataramana Rao and Mastan Rao joined the TDP after resigning from the YSRCP in August, Krishnaiah has not joined any other party but announced that he would work to strengthen the backward classes movement.

As per the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the notification for byelections will be issued on December 3. The last date for filing of nominations will be December 10. The scrutiny of nominations will be taken up the next day while December 13 will be the last date for withdrawal of candidatures.

The polling, if necessary, will be held on December 20 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The counting of votes will be taken up the same day.

The TDP is likely to re-nominate Mastan Rao to Rajya Sabha while Venkataramana Rao has reportedly joined the party without any preconditions.

TDP is likely to leave one seat for its allies.