Kakinada, March 24: Boddu Bhaskara Rama Rao of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has been elected Member of Legislative Council from the local bodies’ constituency of East Godavari district. Though independent candidate supported by the YSR Congress Party Kudupudi Chittabbayi too was in the poll fray, the contest was between Mr. Rao and the Congress party’s nominee Gidugu Rudra Raju. The counting of votes was held at Bennet Club here on Wednesday and the result was out within two hours of the commencement of the counting.
Of the 1,237 votes, 1,231 votes were polled in which 37 votes turned invalid. As there were 1,194 valid votes, the magic figure to win the election was set as 598 votes. In the first round of counting, Mr. Rao secured 510 first preferential votes, Mr. Rudra Raju got 400 votes, Mr. Chittabbayi secured 278 votes and another independent candidate Nagaraju Rudraraju got six votes. After eliminating Mr. Nagaraju Rudraraju, the officials began counting the second preferential votes, in which the Congress nominee got one vote and the remaining five votes got exhausted.
In the third round of counting, the officials eliminated Mr. Chittabbayi and declared that Mr. Rao got 57 preferential votes and Mr. Rudra Raju secured 34 preferential votes. Interestingly, 187 votes got exhausted, as the voters not opted for second preferential vote. At the end of the third round, Mr. Rao secured 567 votes and Mr. Rudra Raju got 435 votes. As none of the candidates got the magic figure, the officials commenced fourth round of counting eliminating Mr. Rudra Raju. In this round, Mr. Rao got 40 preferential votes taking his total number of votes to 607. Presiding Officer K. Sasidhar handed over the election certificate to Mr. Rao in the presence of election observer S. Balasubrahmanyam and district Collector M. Ravi Chandra.
Even as the fourth round of counting was going on, Mr. Rudra Raju left the counting hall and told the media that the split in the Congress vote helped the TDP win the seat. He said that he would continue his services to the Congress party and work under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. The activists of the TDP took out a victory rally in the city.
–Agencies