HYDERABAD: Bypoll for the lone vacant Rajya Sabha seat in the State will be held on May 30 and it is a certainty that the ruling TRS candidate will be elected unopposed. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday issued the schedule for the election.
Contrary to the expectation that the byelection will be held along with the two regular seats in the State, the EC announced the schedule only for the vacant seat. According to the schedule, election notification will be issued on May 12 and the last date for filing of nominations is May 19. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is May 23.
However, no Opposition party in the state has required strength to even file nominations. All the Opposition parties in the State Legislative Assembly have less than ten MLAs. Thus, the TRS can win the seat without an election. The TRS candidate will be declared elected on May 23, the last date of withdrawal of candidature. However, as it is a bypoll, the term of the elected candidate will be up to April 2, 2024.
Several aspirants
There are many aspirants for the Rajya Sabha seat in the TRS. The name of actor Prakash Raj is also doing the rounds for RS seat. Meanwhile, the EC directed the Chief Secretary to depute a senior officer to ensure that the extant instructions regarding Covid-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for the bypoll.