In a keenly contested byelection in Telangana, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) candidate K Prabhakara Reddy has defeated BJP’s K Rajagopal Reddy by over 10,309 votes.

While K Prabhakara Reddy was polled 97,006, the BJP candidate got 86,697 votes.

The bypoll was necessitated after Rajagopal Reddy, who won the seat in the 2018 Assembly elections on a Congress ticket, joined the BJP and resigned to seek a mandate.

The election generated political heat in the State, with both parties reportedly spending crores of rupees to attract voters. The ruling TRS party has used all its resources, deputing many Ministers and MLAs to the constituency for the campaign.

The BJP tried to win the election to prove that the wind was blowing in its favour. Its hopes, however, were dashed.

The TRS has taken the help of the Left parties, who have good clout in the constituency.