Sitting TRS MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy, whose term ends on March 31 that necessitated the current election, retained his seat in the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Graduates’ constituency.
He won by a majority of 12,806 votes over his immediate contender Teenmar Mallanna, in a four-day counting battle involving first preference votes, elimination of 69 other candidates and second preference votes.
Returning Officer Prashant J Patil declared the result at around 11 p.m. on Saturday, after a nearly five-hour process to eliminate the 69th candidate Telangana Jana Samithi’s M. Kodandaram and apportioning his second preference votes to the last two continuing contestants.
Mr. Rajeshwar Reddy had a head-start on the first day and went on to gather 1,10, 840 first preference votes in the seven batches of counting. His immediate contenders Mr. Mallanna (83,290) and TJS’ M. Kodandaram (70,072) although remained a threat all through the stages, the sitting MLC’s already established 27,550 vote majority gave him his cushion.
While Mr. Rajeshwar Reddy’s margin largely remained unchanged, from the end of first preference votes till the 69th round of elimination and second preference vote counting, a 24,579-vote majority over his immediate runner, Mr. Mallanna and Mr. Kodandaram’s hopes soared rightly as they gathered 24,814 and 32,812 additional votes till the same stage.
But the final and the 70th round ended the struggle. Mr. Rajeshwar Reddy gained 29,128 votes and Mr. Mallana secured 40,901 second preference votes from Mr. Kodandaram’s ballot papers. Mr. Mallanna’s tally stopped at 1,49,005 votes and the former emerged victorious with a total 1,61,811 votes.
Even before the declaration of the result, Mr. Mallanna addressed a press conference at around 10 p.m., and said that the graduates in the composite constituency have done their job well, “but fake votes and spending ₹100 crore helped Palla Rajeshwar Reddy win the election.”
While asserting that no political party was on the people’s side in Telangana, Mr. Mallanna also added that he along with his team would take up a 6,000-km padayatra across the State in the coming days. He quoted Dr. B.R. Ambedkar’s words as the guiding mantra: “Political power is the master key (to open the doors of progress and self respect).”
