Dubbak bypoll: TRS confident of win; do-or-die for BJP and Congress

Hyderabad, Nov 09: Counting of votes polled in the bye-election to the Dubbak Assembly constituency, witnessing a three-cornered contest involving the ruling TRS and opposition BJP and Congress, will be taken up on Tuesday.

Tight security measures have been put in place for the counting of votes, with the Siddipet police having made elaborate arrangements to thwart any untoward incident, a senior official said.

"Around 500 policemen have been deployed to oversee security arrangements," Police Commissioner Joel Davis said on Monday.

A good voter turnout of about 82 per cent was recorded on the polling day on November 3.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of sitting TRS MLA Solipeta Ramalinga Reddy due to health problems in August this year. His widow Solipeta Sujatha is the ruling party's choice.

K Chandrasekhar Rao-led TRS has a massive majority of 100 MLAs in the 120-member House and a win here would only further consolidate its hold in the state politics.

However, a win for the Congress or the BJP should come as a morale-booster to the respective national party, especially ahead of the upcoming Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) elections.

While the Congress has fielded Cheruku Srinivas Reddy, who jumped ship from TRS just ahead of the bypoll, the BJP had nominated M Raghunandan Rao, who lost from herein the 2018 Assembly elections.

Though 20 others are also in the fray, the contest is virtually confined between TRS, Congress and the BJP.

The outcome of the bypoll would give the winning party the much needed morale booster ahead of the GHMC polls.

In the 120-member house, which includes a nominated Anglo-Indian legislator, Congress has six MLAs while the BJP has one.