The Telangana Rashtra Samiti retained Siddipet seat while the Majlis-e-Ittehaadul Muslimeen (MIM) wrested the Asifnagar seat in the assembly by-polls in Andhra Pradesh.

Minister for Youth Services T Harish Rao defeated his nearest Telugu Desam Party rival and former minister Cheruku Muthyam Reddy by a huge margin of 24,827 votes in Siddipet constituency in Medak district.

Rao is the nephew of TRS founder and Union Minister (without portfolio) K Chandrasekhar Rao. The latter had vacated the seat preferring to retain his Karimnagar Lok Sabha seat, which he had won simultaneously in the elections held in April this year.

MIM nominee Mohammed Moazam Khan defeated his nearest Congress rival D Nagender by a slender margin of 2,110 votes in a triangular contest in Asifnagar constituency in Hyderabad city. Telugu Desam candidate M Arvind Kumar Goud finished third.

Both MIM and TDP had harped on the 'opportunism' of Congress candidate Nagender, who resigned within two months of being elected on a TDP ticket and rejoined the Congress, thereby forcing the by-election. He had represented the seat for two terms (1994 and 1999) as a Congress member.

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