The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has named N. Gautham Rao as its candidate for the biennial election to the Hyderabad Local Authorities Constituency (LAC) seat of the Telangana Legislative Council. The Central Election Committee of the BJP announced his candidature for the election scheduled to be held on April 23.
Gautham Rao, who previously served as the president of BJP's Hyderabad Central district, will be contesting for the seat currently held by M. S. Prabhakar, whose term ends on May 1. Prabhakar was elected on a BRS ticket but switched to the Congress party in July last year.
The Election Commission issued a notification for the election on March 28, with the last date for filing nomination papers set for April 4. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 7, and April 9 is the final date for withdrawal of candidatures. Counting of votes will be held on April 25.
The Hyderabad LAC electorate comprises 110 voters, including corporators, MLAs, and MPs. The AIMIM, led by Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, holds a majority with 49 votes, followed by the BRS with 25 and Congress with 14. The BJP holds the remaining votes.
The ruling Congress is expected to back the AIMIM candidate, though the AIMIM is yet to announce its nominee. It remains unclear if the BRS will field a candidate, as the party recently refrained from contesting the MLC elections for Graduate and Teachers' constituencies, where the BJP secured two out of three seats.
Five MLC vacancies from the MLA quota were filled unanimously last month, with Congress securing three, while its ally CPI and BRS took one each.
