Telangana MLC poll: TRS candidate Rajeshwar Reddy retains seat

The ruling TRS candidate and sitting MLC Palla Rajeshwar Reddy retained his seat by winning the election to Telangana Legislative Council from Warangal- Khammam-Nalgonda Graduates constituency. He beat his nearest rival Teenmar Mallanna, an independent, by 12,806 votes.

He received the certificate of election from the Returning Officer, Prashant J Patil.

With Reddys victory, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi has won both seats in the high-stakes Graduates' MLC constituency elections.

Former Prime Minister P V Narasimha Rao's daughter Surabhi Vani Devi, who was the ruling TRS candidate, on Saturday won the electionfrom the Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy- Hyderabad Graduates' constituency.

She defeated her nearest BJP rival and sitting MLC N Ramachander Rao.

Both Reddy and Vani Devi thanked the electorate for reposing faith in them and said the results proved that the people are with Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

The Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda constituency witnessed a keen electoral battle among 71 candidates, including Telangana Jana Samiti (TJS) chief Prof M Kodandaram, S Ramulu Naik of Congress and BJPs G Premender Reddy.

Both TRS nominees had been maintaining a lead over their rivals since the counting of votes began on Wednesday and it continued till Saturday as jumbo-sized ballot papers were used in view of the large number of candidates and also because the voters exercised their franchise in a preferential method.

Polling was held on March 14 for the two Graduates' constituencies.

The total number of voters in the two constituencies is over 10 lakh.

As many as 93 candidates were in the fray from Mahabubnagar-Rangareddy-Hyderabad constituency, while 71 nominees contested from the Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda constituency.