Both Congress candidates elected unopposed to Telangana Council

Hyderabad: Congress party candidates B. Mahesh Kumar Goud and Venkat Narsing Rao Balmoor were elected unopposed to the Telangana Legislative Council on Monday.

The Election Commission declared them elected without contest as no other nominations were received for the by-election to the two seats’ MLAs quota.

January 22 was the last date for withdrawal of nominations for the by-elections which were scheduled to be held on January 29.

As no other nominations were received, Returning Officer Upender Reddy declared them elected and presented certificates to them in the presence of Legislative Affairs Minister D. Sridhar Babu. Mahesh Kumar Goud is working president of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC).

Venkat Balmoor is state NSUI president and had unsuccessfully contested the by-election for Huzurabad Assembly seat in 2021. Two MLC seats fell vacant following the resignation of Kadiam Srihari and Padi Kaushik Reddy, after they were elected to Assembly in the recent elections.

Both belonged to BRS and their terms as MLCs were due to expire on November 30, 2027.

The Election Commission had decided to conduct the elections to two seats separately.

Its move came under criticism from BRS, which had also approached the High Court but did not get any relief.

Separate notifications for the two MLC seats appear to have given an upper hand to the Congress party, which has 64 members in 119-member Assembly.