TDP wins Tirupati bypoll with over one lakh vote margin

HYDERABAD: Riding on a sympathy wave, TDP nominee M Suguna today won the bye-election to Tirupati Assembly constituency in Andhra Pradesh by a massive margin of over one lakh votes.

The counting of votes for the February 13 bypoll was taken up this morning and Suguna established a sizeable lead from the first round itself.

The bypoll was necessitated due to the death of Suguna's husband and TDP MLA M Venkataramana last December.

The election had become a virtually a one-sided affair as main opposition YSR Congress decided not to field its candidate as per a "practice" of letting the family members get elected unopposed in the event of death of a sitting MLA.

Congress, still smarting under the complete rout in last year's elections, entered the fray in the bypoll. Its misery increased further as party nominee R Sridevi lost the security deposit.

Attributing the victory to her late husband's popularity among people, the development efforts of Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and help from Centre, Suguna said she would work for the temple town's development and providing housing for the poor.