The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) won a majority of the 67 Mandal Parishad President (MPP) posts across united Adilabad district on Friday.
However, three MPP posts were won by the BJP in Adilabad district and five by Congress in Nirmal district, besides Ichoda in the former and Lokeshwaram in Nirmal, which saw Independents getting elected.
Dandepalli mandal in Mancherial district witnessed some dramatic moments before TRS candidate Gaddam Srinivas was declared elected through a lucky draw. Of the eight Congress Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency (MPTC) member-elects, P. Anil, who had wished to vote for the TRS candidate as MPP, arrived late for the special meeting.
TRS, which had six MPTCs, managed to equalise the number of votes with the help of Anil. The lucky draw to break the impasse saw the TRS getting its candidate elected amid protest by the Congress.
Meanwhile, elections for Gudihatnoor and Mavala MPP posts in Adilabad district and Bheemini in Mancherial district were postponed by a day. While there was lack of quorum at Bheemini, election for Gudihatnoor was postponed as there was no nomination for the post of co-opted member.
At Mavala mandal, election was postponed as there were only three MPTCs that saw one each of TRS, Congress and Independents winning, because of which neither party could manage to get a proposer and seconder at one go.
Two of the five TRS MPTC members voted for an Independent contestant at Ichoda, which elected him as MPP. He already had the support of three BJP and three Congress members.
The BJP won the MPP posts at Indervelli, Sirikonda and Bazarhatnoor mandals, which have a sizeable Adivasi population.
In the final analysis, TRS got 10 MPP posts out of 17 in Adilabad district, 14 out of 17 in Mancherial district, 12 out of 18 in Nirmal district and all 15 in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district. BJP got three, Congress eight and two Independents won the remaining posts.
Khammam special correspondent adds: Establishing a formidable grip over the rural local bodies, the TRS won 17 of the total 20 MPP posts in the indirect elections held in the district on Friday. Despite the recent setbacks in the elections, the TDP sprang a surprise by winning the Enkoor MPP post where its candidate A. Varalaxmi emerged triumphant. The CPI (M) bagged the Bonakal MPP post with the party candidate K. Sowbhagyam emerging a winner. The Congress had to be content with just two MPP vice-president posts of Enkoor and Bonakal mandals, sources added.
The election to Kusumanchi MPP post was postponed to Saturday for want of quorum.