With the Election Commission of India on Tuesday announcing the by-elections to three Rajya Sabha seats from Andhra Pradesh will be held on December 20, the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is set to re-enter the upper house of Parliament.
The party, headed by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, currently has no representation in the upper house.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), headed by the TDP, is sure to win all three seats, going by its strength in the 175-member Assembly. The TDP has 135 members while its allies, the Jana Sena and the BJP have 21 and 8 seats, respectively.
The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP), which lost power to the NDA in the elections held in May, has only 11 MLAs.
The TDP had stayed away from Rajya Sabha elections held in February this year due to a lack of sufficient numbers in the Assembly. For the first time in its four-decade history, it had no representation in Rajya Sabha.
The vacancies were caused by the recent resignations of Mopidevi Venkataramana Rao, Beedha Mastan Rao Yadav, and Ryaga Krishnaiah, all of the YSRCP.
While Venkataramana Rao and Mastan Rao joined the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) after resigning from the YSRCP in August, Krishnaiah has not joined any other party but announced that he would work to strengthen the backward classes movement.
Venkataramana Rao’s term was up to June 21, 2026, while the term of the other two was to end on June 21, 2028.
As per the schedule announced by the Election Commission, the notification for by-elections will be issued on December 3. The last date for filing of nominations will be December 10. The scrutiny of nominations will be taken up the next day while December 13 will be the last date for withdrawal of candidatures.
The polling, if necessary, will be held on December 20 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. The counting of votes will be taken up the same day.
The TDP is likely to re-nominate Mastan Rao to Rajya Sabha while Venkataramana Rao has reportedly joined the party without any preconditions.
Chandrababu Naidu’s party is likely to leave one seat for its allies.
Venkataramana Rao had served as a minister in the Cabinets of Jagan Mohan Reddy and his father Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy. Though he was defeated in the 2019 Assembly election elections, Jagan Mohan Reddy made him an MLC and inducted him into his cabinet. He served as Minister for Excise and Prohibition till June 2020.
Jagan Mohan Reddy dropped him from the Cabinet and sent him to Rajya Sabha the same month. In the recent elections, he had sought a YRCP ticket for his son from the Repalle Assembly constituency but the same was denied.
Mastan Rao quit the TDP to join the YSRCP in 2019, a few months after the YSRCP stormed to power. In 2022, Jagan Mohan Reddy rewarded him with the Rajya Sabha seat
Mastan Rao was elected MLA on the TDP ticket from Kavali in 2009 but lost the election in 2014. He contested unsuccessfully from the Nellore Lok Sabha constituency on a TDP ticket in 2019.
Krishnaiah resigned from the Rajya Sabha on September 24. The leader, who hails from Telangana, said he resigned to focus on removing hurdles in strengthening the backward classes movement in Telangana.
He was elected to Rajya Sabha unanimously in 2022.
Krishnaiah, President of the National BC Association, was the surprise choice of the YSRCP, which had an overwhelming majority in the previous Assembly in Andhra Pradesh
Krishnaiah was elected to the Telangana Assembly from the L.B. Nagar constituency in 2014 on a TDP ticket but switched loyalties to the Congress on the eve of the 2018 elections.
In the 2018 Assembly elections in Telangana, he contested unsuccessfully on a Congress ticket from the Miryalaguda constituency.
In 2019, he quit the Congress and joined the YSRCP at the invitation of Jagan Mohan Reddy.