Counting of votes in telangana deferred to june 2…
The election commission of india has postponed the counting of votes in the by-election to the telangana Legislative Council from mahabubnagar Local Authorities’ Constituency to june 2. The votes polled in the by-election held on march 28 were originally scheduled to be taken up for counting on april 2. The election commission on monday announced the postponement of the counting given the Model Code of Conduct which is in force for the general elections. The Model Code of Conduct came into force from march 16 while the by-election was announced on february 26 and the notification was issued on march 4. The poll panel stated that the administrative machinery involved in the conduct of by-elections is also involved in lok sabha polls.
Engaging it in the conduct of the counting of votes in by-elections may compromise the smooth processing of the conduct of the lok sabha election in the state, it said. Polling for 17 lok sabha seats in telangana is scheduled on May 13 while counting of votes will be taken up on june 4. A total of 1,439 voters including municipal councilors, MPTCs, ZPTCs, and ex-officio members were eligible to cast their votes in the by-election, and two had cast their votes on march 28.
Chief minister A. revanth reddy had cast his vote as an ex-officio member in his capacity as mla from the kodangal constituency. The by-election witnessed a direct fight between Manney jeevan reddy of the ruling congress and N. naveen Kumar reddy of the main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). An Independent candidate Sudershan Goud is also in the fray. The by-election was necessitated after Kasireddy Narayan reddy of the BRS resigned and successfully contested as a congress candidate from the Kalwakurthy assembly constituency in the recent elections.
