Amaravati, March 4 (IANS) Ruling NDA-supported candidate won the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Council seat from East-West Godavari graduates’ constituency.
P. Rajashekaram was declared elected at the end of the seventh round of counting as he secured 51 per cent of the first-preference votes.
As a candidate needs 50 per cent first-preference votes to win, the Election Commission declared him elected with two rounds of counting to go.
Rajashekaram secured 1,12,331 votes while his nearest rival Veera Raghavulu of Progressive Democratic Front (PDF) polled 41,268 votes.
Rajasekharam, who was supported by the ruling alliance, won the seat by a margin of 71,063 votes.
He thanked Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and graduate voters of the constituency. He promised to work to solve the problems of graduates.
The NDA bagged the Legislative Council seat from the Krishna-Guntur graduates’ constituency.
Telugu Desam Party’s senior leader Alapati Rajendra Prasad was earlier declared elected from the Krishna-Guntur graduates’ constituency while Gade Srinivasulu Naidu of Progressive Recognised Teachers’ Union (PRTU) was declared winner from the North Coastal Andhra Pradesh teachers’ constituency.
Elections to three MLC seats were held on February 27 while the counting of votes was taken up on Monday.
Rajendra Prasad won the Krishna-Guntur graduates’ seat by a huge majority of 82,320 votes against his nearest rival K.S. Lakshmana Rao of Progressive Democratic Front (PDF).
Rajendra Prasad, a former MLA of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) who was supported by its allies Jana Sena and BJP, secured 1,45,057 votes while Lakshmana Rao polled 62,737 votes at the end of the ninth and final round of counting of the first preference votes on Tuesday.
Out of 3,47,116 votes in the constituency, 2,41,500 voters exercised their franchise in the election held on February 27. More than 25,000 votes were declared invalid. This was the third-highest number after the votes polled by the winner and runners-up.
A total of 25 candidates were in the fray in this constituency but the main contest was between Rajendra Prasad and Lakshmana Rao.
Gade Srinivasulu Naidu of the Progressive Recognised Teachers’ Union (PRTU) was elected to the Council from Srikakulam-Vizianagaram-Visakhapatnam teachers’ constituency.
He defeated his nearest rival Pakalapati Raghu Varma of Andhra Pradesh Teachers’ Federation (APTF), who was supported by the ruling NDA.
Srinivasulu Naidu secured 12,035 votes while his nearest competitor polled 8,527 votes.
Naidu has won this seat for the third time. He was earlier elected in 2007 and 2014.
–IANS
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