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Opposition parties put up impressive show in Telangana, Andhra MLC polls
In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP, which had been losing all the elections after its debacle in the 2019 general elections, made a comeback in the MLC elections in north coastal and East Rayalaseema districts, which are considered YSR Congress Party strongholds.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Telugu Desam Party, the opposition parties in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh , on Friday put up an impressive show in the elections to the legislative councils in the states.
In Telangana, the BJP made a maiden entry into the legislative council, when its candidate A Venkat Narayana Reddy won the MLC election from Mahabunagar-Rangareddy-Hyderabad teachers’ constituency after the elimination of other candidates.
Returning officer and GHMC additional commissioner Priyanka Ala said in a statement that Reddy was declared elected at the end of 21st round, when he secured 13,436 votes, which is more than the 50 per cent quota of the total number of valid votes, which is 25,416.
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The BJP-backed candidate defeated his nearest rival G Chennakeshava Reddy of Panchayat Raj Teachers’ Union (PRTU), who has the backing of the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
State BJP president Bandi Sanjay said the victory of Reddy showed that there was a strong anti-incumbency in Telangana against the BRS. “This is the first time in the history of Telangana that the BJP won the MLC seat in the teachers’ constituency. This election proves strong anti-incumbency against the BRS, especially among government employees and the educated sections,” he said.
In Andhra Pradesh, the TDP, which had been losing all the elections after its debacle in the 2019 general elections, made a comeback in the MLC elections particularly in the graduates’ constituencies in north coastal (Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam) and East Rayalaseema districts (Chittor, Nellore and Prakasam), which are considered YSR Congress Party strongholds.
In north-coastal Andhra constituency, TDP candidate Vepada Chiranjeevi Rao secured 82,958 votes at the end of the counting of the first preference votes. He has to get in all 94,509 votes to be declared as victorious.
However, he established an assailable lead of over 27,000 votes over his nearest rival Sithamraju Sudhakar of YSRCP who got 55,749 votes. While PDF (backed by left parties) candidate Ramaprabha secured 35,148 votes, the sitting MLC and BJP nominee stood distant fourth place with just 10,884 votes.
Similarly, TDP candidate Kancharla Srikanth Chowdary was leading by over 27,262 votes over YSRCP candidate Pernati Syam Prasada Reddy in East Rayalaseema (Chittoor, Nellore and Prakasam) graduates constituency at the end of seventh round counting. While Srikanth got 11,25,14 votes, Reddy got just around 85,252 votes.
In Rayalaseema (west) comprising Kadapa, Anantapur and Kurnool districts, YSRCP candidate Vennapusa Ravindra Reddy established a marginal lead of 1,382 votes over his TDP rival Bhumireddy Ramgopal Reddy at the end of seventh round.
The YSRCP, however, won four seats from local bodies’ constituencies, two seats from teachers’ constituencies and leading in one graduates constituency.
TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu rushed to the party headquarters in Mangalagiri and spoke with the electoral officers. He requested the chief electoral officer MK Meena and district electoral officers in Visakhapatnam and Tirupati to ensure transparency and fairness in the counting of votes.
TDP state president K Atchnnaidu said that people have rejected YSRCP’s three-capital cities drama and development of north-coastal region with Vizag as capital.
