VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Wednesday dismissed the plea of YSRC leader Modugula Venugopala Reddy, challenging the election of Galla Jayadev of TDP from Guntur Lok Sabha constituency.
Modugula, who contested against Galla in the 2019 elections, filed the petition after the declaration of results as he lost by a slender margin. He was under the impression that rejection of the postal ballots had led to his defeat and approached the High Court. He sought directions from the court for recounting of the postal ballots (9,782 votes) and also recounting in the 13th polling station in Guntur Lok Sabha constituency.
In his petition, he questioned the rejection of the postal ballots, and the court said not mentioning the serial number in Form 13B also comes under ‘difference’. When such a difference is seen, ballots are rejected. After a lengthy hearing, Justice R Raghunandan Rao dismissed the plea.
Advocate VRS Prashant, who appeared for Modugula, contended that rejecting a postal ballot for the reason that the ballot serial number was not mentioned on the form, was not proper. His argument was dismissed, and the court directed the release of EVMs and VVPATs of the election.