TDP retains Tirupati Assembly seat

Hyderabad, Feb 16 (INN): The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has retained the Tirupati Assembly seat of Andhra Pradesh in the by-elections whose results were announced on Monday.

TDP candidate Mannuru Suguna won the by-elections with a huge majority of 116,524 votes against her nearest rival R Sreedevi of Congress party.

While Congress candidate Sreedevi secured 9,628 votes, Lok Satta’s Kallu Balasubramanyam got 3,815 votes. As many as 2,152 voters had pressed None Of The Above (NOTA) button. As many as 13 candidates were in the fray.

The by-elections for Tirupati seat were held on February 13. The seat had fell vacant due to the demise of sitting TDP MLA M Venakataramana on December 15, 2014. The main opposition YSR Congress Party did not participate in the by-polls to ensure election of TDP’s nominee Suguna, the widow of Venkataramana.