No surprises, TRS, AIMIM sail through MLC polls

Polling was held since there were six candidates for the five seats until 4 pm.
TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao with MLC-elects Satyavathi Rathod, Seri Shubhash Reddy, Mohammed Mahmood Ali and Yegge Mallesham | EXPRESS
TRS supremo K Chandrasekhar Rao with MLC-elects Satyavathi Rathod, Seri Shubhash Reddy, Mohammed Mahmood Ali and Yegge Mallesham | EXPRESS

HYDERABAD: As expected, the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen combine on Tuesday won all five MLC seats under MLA quota in the biennial elections to the State Legislative Council. 

With the Opposition Congress keeping away, the polls became a mere formality which saw TRS leaders Mohammed Mahmood Ali, Seri Shubhash Reddy, Satyavathi Rathod and Yegge Mallesham and AIMIM candidate Mirza Riyaz ul Hasan Effendi emerge victorious. Congress candidate Gudur Narayan Reddy was eliminated from the contest as he did not obtain even a single vote.

Polling was held since there were six candidates for the five seats until 4 pm. Following the whip issued by CLP leader Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, 15 Congress MLAs abstained from participating in the voting. The four Congress MLAs and TDP MLA who recently defected to the TRS too did not vote.

Defeated Gudur accuses KCR of ‘murdering democracy’ 

TDP MLA Mecha Nageswara Rao and lone BJP MLA T Raja Singh decided not to participate as well, leaving the voting to 91 TRS and seven AIMIM MLAs. The TRS fielded Home Minister Mahmood Ali again as his term as MLC was coming to an end. Former State Mineral Development Corporation chairman Seri Subhash Reddy was a close aide of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao. Satyavathi Rathod has previously served as MLA and AIMIM’s Mirza Riyaz was a corporator. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Gudur Narayan Reddy, who was defeated in the polls, accused Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao of “murdering democracy”. 

“KCR has lured a few Congress MLAs with money. Despite having the required numbers, the Congress party was unable to win any seat due to defections. We were forced to boycott the elections which consequently resulted in the TRS-MIM combine winning all five seats,” he said. 

KCR murdering democracy, says Gudur
Congress candidate Gudur Narayan Reddy, who was defeated in the polls, accused CM K Chandrasekhar Rao of “murdering democracy”. He said that he would have won had the TRS not engineered defections

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com