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Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad
Dheeravath Bharathi Devi, widow of the slain Congress Member of Legislative Assembly D Raghya Naik, was on Monday declared elected unopposed in the assembly bypoll from Devarakonda constituency in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh.
The returning officer announced her unanimous election from the Scheduled Tribe reserved constituency after a BJP rebel candidate withdrew his nomination.
Bharathi, who filed her papers as a Congress nominee, was supported by Telugu Desam Party, BJP, CPI and CPI-M.
These four parties decided not to field their candidates against Bharathi to express solidarity for Raghya Naik who was shot dead by outlawed People's War Group of Naxalites at Maddimadugu on December 29 last.
Leaders of all political parties accompanied Bharathi when she filed her nomination on May 17. Four sets of papers were filed on her behalf by leaders of various parties.
The CPI also decided not to set up a candidate against Bharathi following a request from AP Congress Committee president M Satyanarayana Rao.
The CPI had won Devarakonda seat six times before Raghya Naik of the Congress wrested it in 1999 polls.
BJP tribal morcha leader Shankar Naik had filed his nomination though the BJP clarified that he was not a party nominee and that there was no going back on the party's support for Bharathi.
Subsequently, district Congress leaders persuaded Shankar Naik to withdraw from the contest -- hours before the deadline for withdrawal ended on Monday afternoon -- to facilitate unanimous election of Bharathi.
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