HYDERABAD/SURYAPET: After scrutiny by the election officials on Tuesday, the number of contestants in the fray for the byelection to the Huzurnagar Assembly seat came down to 31 from 76, who had filed 119 sets of nominations. Among those whose nominations were rejected included CPM candidate P Shekhar Rao and 85-year-old A Lakshmi Narasamma, who filed her nomination papers to highlight the issue of land mafia. Those whose nominations were rejected staged a dharna in front of the office of the returning officer.
CPM candidate P Shekhar Rao said: “I downloaded the nomination form from the election commission’s website and submitted it to the ERO on Monday. But the ERO rejected it saying that I had not filled one column related to the property I hold. But the nomination that I downloaded from Election Commission site did not have that column. I came to know that it was added later. I was not at fault. I will file a case in the court,” he said.
CPI goes by present scenario
In a related development, the CPI, which had been very critical of the TRS leadership in the past and even fought polls against it, has announced that it would support the pink party in the byelection. The decision to support TRS was taken at the party’s State Committee meeting held under the chairmanship of State secretary Chada Venkat Reddy.
Later, Venkat Reddy said that his party decided to support the TRS after considering the present political scenario in the State. “In the current situation we feel that we should support the TRS in the Huzurnagar bypoll,” he said.
However, he stated that his party would continue to fight for people’s cause and question the TRS government whenever it adopts anti-people policies.