Bypolls to 10 T seats on July 27

Bypolls to 10 of the 12 vacant Assembly seats from Telangana will be held on July 27, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday, setting the stage for a bitter political battle. Counting of votes would be taken up on July 30 from 8 am.

Byelections will be held to Sirpur, Chennur (SC), Mancherial, Yellareddy, Koratla, Dharmapuri (SC), Huzurabad, Siddipet and Warangal West that were held by the TRS, and Nizamabad (Urban) which was held by the BJP.

Byelections will not be held in the Sircilla and Vemulawada, where election petitions filed by losing candidates in the 2009 polls are pending in the AP High Court.

In Sircilla, Mr Mahender Reddy, a TRS rebel, who lost by 171 votes, has alleged irregularities in counting. In Vemulavala, Mr Adi Srinivas of the Congress contended that the winner, Ch. Ramesh in 2009, was not an Indian citizen. The TRS chief, Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, saw a “politically conspiracy” in the EC leaving out these two seats.

The notification would be issued on July 2 and the last day for filing nominations would be July 9. The last date for withdrawal of nominations is July 12. Polling would be held between 7 am to 5 pm on July 27.