Telangana election results: Congress MLAs who defected to BRS in 2019 bite the dust

Ten of the 12 Congress MLAs defected to the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (now, the Bharat Rashtra Samithi) in June 2019, causing a major embarrassment to Congress and reducing its strength in the Telangana Assembly, have lost in this election. Their defection led to the Congress losing the status of main Opposition and second-largest party in the House, leaving party leaders seething.

In the December 2018 elections, the Congress won 19 seats. Ten of the 12 legislators who defected to the BRS and lost are G Balaraju (Achampet, lost by over 49,326 votes), P Rohith Reddy (Tandur, lost by 6,583 votes), Rega Kantha Rao (lost in Pinapaka by 34,506 votes), B Harshavardhan Reddy (lost Kollapur by 29,931 votes), Gandra Venkat Ramana Rao (lost Bhupalpalle by 52,699 votes), Surender J (lost Yellareddy by 24,001 votes), Haripriya Naik Bhanoth (lost Yellandu by 57,301 votes), Vanama Venketeshwara (lost Kothagudem by 80,336 votes), Kandala Upender Reddy (lost Palair by 56,650 votes), and C Lingaiah (lost Nakrekal by 68,839 votes).

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P Sabita Indra Reddy who is thought to be behind the 2019 rebellion, won Maheshwaram for the second time, defeating A Sriramulu Yadav of the BJP by 26,187 votes. In Lal Bahadur Nagar (LB Nagar), D Sudheer Reddy defeated his nearest rival Sama Ranga Reddy of the BJP by 22,305 votes.