Telangana MLC polls: A counting marathon, a fire and a spirited outsider

The counting of votes for the Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahbubnagar Graduates’ constituency, which began on March 17 at the Saroornagar Indoor Stadium, concluded sans controversies on Saturday.
TRS supporters celebrate the party’s victory at Saroornagar Indoor Stadium.
TRS supporters celebrate the party’s victory at Saroornagar Indoor Stadium.

HYDERABAD: After four days and three nights, counting of votes finally concludes sans controversies on Saturday. Wild card candidate Teenmaar Mallanna puts up a tough fight in almost every round of ballot counting. The TRS, winner in both divisions, benefits by multiple anti-TRS groups splitting the BJP votes 

The counting of votes for the Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahbubnagar Graduates’ constituency, which began on March 17 at the Saroornagar Indoor Stadium, concluded sans controversies on Saturday. Spread across four days, the counting was done in a transparent manner, with no major political party raising objections.
The exercise continued for nearly 90 hours, and will go down in history as one of the longest counting sessions in not just Telangana, but also Andhra Pradesh. No complaints were raised by the counting agents or candidates.

The Hyderabad District Election Authority and GHMC Commissioner DS Lokesh Kumar congratulated the Returning Officer, Priyanka Ala, and other officials and staff involved in the counting process. The activity was supervised by Election Observer Harpreet Singh. He was appointed by Election Commission of India (ECI) to monitor the entire poll process.The counting was taken up in three shifts every day, with around 800 counting staff per shift in eight halls at a rate of 2,400 votes per day, for four days. Assistant Returning Officers, GHMC and revenue officials also extended their services. 

Around 2,100 workers, mainly from the Entomology Department of the GHMC, played a vital role in moving the jumbo ballot boxes from the strongrooms to the counting hall and back. Rachakonda Police Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat had set up  tight security during the process to prevent any untoward incidents.

12% votes invalid
Nearly 12 per cent votes cast in the Hyderabad-Rangareddy-Mahbubnagar and Warangal-Khammam-Nalgonda MLC elections were invalid. Of the 7.45 lakh votes that were polled in the two constituencies, over 42,000 votes were invalid or rejected. The ballot paper was to be marked with the numbers 1,2,3 etc in order of preference for the candidate. However, some voters had written comments and signed on the sheets. Some others gave the same preference to all the candidates.

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