Counting of votes underway in Telangana MLC poll

Hyderabad: The counting of votes for the Telangana Legislative Council elections from three constituencies was underway on Monday.

The three seats are the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar Graduates' and Teachers' constituencies and the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Teachers' constituency.

Polling was conducted on February 27 through preferential voting using ballot papers.

The vote counting process in Karimnagar and Nalgonda is time-consuming as it involves segregation of valid and invalid votes, followed by preferential counting.

The result for the Teachers' constituencies is expected to be announced in about two days, while the outcome of the Graduates' constituency will be announced in about three days, official sources said.

As many as 2,50,328 voters (over 70 per cent) exercised their franchise in the Graduates' constituency election, while 24,968 electors voted in the Karimnagar-Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad Teachers' constituency.

The Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Teachers' constituency witnessed 93.55 per cent polling.

While 56 candidates were in the fray for the lone Graduates' constituency, 15 and 19 candidates contested the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar and Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda Teachers' constituencies respectively.

The BJP contested all three seats, while the ruling Congress fielded a candidate only for the Graduates' constituency. The BRS stayed away from the election.

Union Coal Minister and state BJP president G Kishan Reddy, Union Minister of State for Home Bandi Sanjay Kumar, and other BJP leaders campaigned extensively in the election.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, state Congress president B Mahesh Kumar Goud, and other senior party leaders canvassed in support of the party candidate.