RS bypoll: Abhishek Manu Singhvi files nomination from Telangana

Hyderabad, Aug 19 (IANS) Congress Working Committee (CWC) member Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Monday filed nomination for the by-election to Rajya Sabha from Telangana.

Accompanied by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, Ministers Uttam Kumar Reddy, Sridhar Babu, Ponnam Prabhakar, Tummala Nageswara Rao, P. Srinivas Reddy, AICC in-charge for Telangana Deepa Dasmunshi, party MLAs, MLCs, and other leaders, Singhvi filed the nomination before Returning Officer Upender Reddy at the state Assembly.

According to Congress leaders, four sets of nominations were filed by Singhvi, a former three-time MP and senior spokesperson of the party.

The Congress leader is the first and the only candidate to file nomination so far for the September 3 by-election.

The by-election to the vacant seat was necessitated by the resignation of former BRS MP K. Keshava Rao, who joined the Congress last month.

The last date for filing of nominations is August 21 and the date of scrutiny is August 22. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is August 27.

The Congress leaders expect that Singhvi will be elected unanimously to Rajya Sabha as opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) does not have numbers to field a candidate.

In the Assembly elections held in November 2023, the Congress had won 64 seats in the 119-member Assembly. It also won Secunderabad Assembly seat in the by-election held in May this year. The party’s strength rose further to 75 with 10 MLAs from BRS switching loyalties during the last six months.

Telangana Congress Legislature Party (CLP) on Sunday night endorsed the candidature of Manu Singhvi.

Chief Minister Revanth Reddy thanked the high command for immediately accepting the proposal to field Singhvi as the candidate.

The Chief Minister mentioned that several Constitutional and legal complications and impediments have come up in the implementation of the State Reorganisation Act 2014.

He recalled that then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had provided legal sanction to the commitments made at the time of the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh but for 10 years the Centre did not implement any of the commitments.

“There is a need to present strong arguments on the issues related to the State Reorganisation Act in the Legislature and the Supreme Court. Keeping this in view, we had requested the high command to send Constitutional and legal expert Mr Abhishek Manu Singhvi to the Rajya Sabha from Telangana,” he said.

Abhishek Manu Singhvi will argue strongly in the Rajya Sabha for solving the unresolved issues related to Reorganisation Act, he said.

Keshava Rao also attended the CLP meeting. He quit as Rajya Sabha member after resigning from BRS to join Congress party last month. His term was expiring in March 2026.