BJP wins MLC seat in Telangana
Hyderabad: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has bagged the Telangana Legislative Council seat from Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar teachers’ constituency while Panchayat Raj Teachers’ Union (PRTU) candidate P. Sripal Reddy has emerged winner from Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda teachers’ constituency.
BJP candidate Malka Komaraiah won Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar teachers’ segment in the first priority votes. He defeated his nearest rival Vanga Mahender Reddy by over 5,000 votes.
Komariah polled 12,959 votes while Mahender Reddy secured 7,182 votes.
In Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda teachers’ constituency, Sripal Reddy was declared winner on the basis of second priority votes over sitting MLC Narsi Reddy. BJP’s Puli Sarottham Reddy finished a distant third.
Counting of votes for the Telangana Legislative Council elections to two teachers’ constituencies and one graduates’ constituency was taken up on Monday.
The counting of votes for the graduate constituency of Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar was still underway.
Congress and BJP are locked in a direct fight in this constituency, which is currently represented by senior Congress leader and former minister T. Jeevan Reddy.
The Congress has fielded V. Narender Reddy, who is pitted against BJP’s C. Anji Reddy.
The BJP, which won all four Lok Sabha seats in this segment last year, is confident of wresting the seat from Congress.
The candidates polling more than 50 percent of first preference votes will be declared elected. If there are no winners in the first preference votes, the counting of second preference votes will be taken up.
The Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar graduates’ constituency had recorded 70.4 percent polling. The voter turnout in Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar teachers’ constituency was 91.9 percent while Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda teachers’ constituency recorded a 93.55 percent polling.
A total of 56 candidates are in the fray in the Medak-Nizamabad-Adilabad-Karimnagar graduates’ constituency. As Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) stayed away, the main contest was between the ruling Congress party and the BJP. As many as 3,55,159 graduates were eligible to cast their vote. About 2.5 lakh voters exercised their franchise.
Though elections to teachers’ segments are held on a non-party basis, the BJP fielded candidates in both segments.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay hailed BJP’s victory from one of the teachers’ segments. He said the results show that teachers wholeheartedly supported the party.
Sanjay, who is the MP from Karimnagar, dedicated the victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He claimed that the BJP enjoyed the support of the people of Telangana and predicted that the party would come to power in the state.